SSX: Snow Gods: Frozen Hearts
by Drum and Parry
Summary: FINISHED! The fourth circuit of the SSX Tour is starting, with 2 returning vets and 1 newbie! Atomika introduces Drum, your not so average boarder, and Yurioki Yoshioka will also be returning to the circuit!
1. A Press Conference

AN: Hey! Its me..Drum Kero! This is the story Parry was talking about..this chapter is long, but its worth the reading belive me. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this. Disclaimer: You know I dont own anything from EA Big. Drum Kero is mine though. ALL mine. And Yuri is the property of Parry.  
  
SSX: Snow Gods  
  
Chapter 1: Atomika's Announcement  
  
Atop Mount BIG, three years after the third installation of the SSX Circuit, there was a press conference being held.  
  
The low buzz of the reporters and their cameras filled the area, making everyone around jittery and anxious. Some would say there was something big going on that day, and they would be right. The apprehensive reporters stood waiting impatiently for someone to appear, for someone to approach the microphone and explain what exactly was going on.  
  
That person they were waiting for was none other than DJ Atomika.  
  
Atop of the furious third peak of "BIG Mountain", reporters huddled together to stay warm. Those who could not bear the temperatures were watching from TV rooms down on the first peak.  
  
Suddenly, everyone fell silent as a somewhat tall white male finally opened the door to the Black Station and walked out. He was maybe six feet tall, not any taller. He seemed to be used toe the weather, only wearing a light jacket and a pair of purple goggles. His hair in small short brown spikes, and the giant billboard sized screen behind him whirred as the SSX logo appeared on it.  
  
"Thank you all for coming out today," the young DJ said, smiling and waving swiftly at the crowd. "I'm sure you are all waiting for what I am going to announce...and I'm sure you have heard all the rumors, and all of the other hype about what I am going to say." He took a deep sigh and looked at the snow below his feet before raising his arms and looking at them all. "Its all true....The SSX snowboarding league is indeed having a FOURTH SEASON!" As if there was new life given to all of the reporters, they all suddenly begin clicking their cameras and blurting out questions.  
  
"DJ Atomika,Sir! Over here! Over here!" a reporter in the front begged, holding her microphone.  
  
"Yes, you in the front," He motioned to her to proceed.  
  
"Can you give us any information on what riders will be returning for this year's circuit?" she asked holding out the microphone anxiously.  
  
"Actually...that's what I have come to tell you." Atomika grinned as wickedly, "If you would all pay attention to the screen behind me-no flash photography please-" Atomika motioned towards the screen behind him.  
  
The ground again fell silent as they all gazed at the screen. The screen flashed a deep orange before actually displaying races and tricks from the last three seasons of SSX. Everyone snickered slightly as a young Moby Jones could be seen laughing at the camera and making faces. Scenes of Mac Fraser pulling off his famous "Walking the Dog Air" were seen as he jumped a gap on the old Garibaldi course in the Tricky" circuit. Elise Riggs was seen lounging about the Yellow Station with Nate from last year, and suddenly the screen went blank.  
  
"Hey! What happened? That's not all, is it?!" a member from the crowed blurted.  
  
"Calm down, sir. It will all start in a moment." Atomika stated, not even bothering to turn around.  
  
The screen then flashed a bright white, and a figure was talking towards the screen. It was DJ Atomika on the screen, and you could easily tell this was previously recorded.  
  
"Hey! DJ Atomika here. I'm sure all of you reporters are just aching to find out about SSX Season 4 aren't you? Aren't you!?"-the crowd laughed slightly as Atomika's familiar was now talking as if he were talking to an infant-"Say it...you know you are...you know you are...yes you are...yes you-Alright, I'll stop that.... Well, there's good news...and there's more good news!" The scene changed from Atomika to the slopes. "For that good news I was talking about? Well get this-all riders from last season agreed to return for this season! Do you think three years of no Big Mountain action will leave these racers rusty? Heh, I didn't think so,"  
  
There were some shots of the Big Mountain flying by as Atomika continued to explain...  
  
"Yes, you heard me they are all coming back,"  
  
The crowds cheered in applause as if on cue.  
  
Atomika ginned devilishly as he read of the names of the returning boarders. As he read the names off the clipboard, pictures of the boarders were shown on the screen. Previous pictures of the boarders from the third circuit flashed along the screen as well as a current picture.  
  
"Mac Fraser, Elise Riggs, Moby Jones, Psymon Stark, Nate Logan, Griff Simmons, Zoe Payne, Viggo Rolig, Allegra Sauvagess, and Kaori Nishidake."  
  
The crowd seemed to stare in awe at the screen for a second as Griff's picture was on the screen, the little 12 year old ball of sugar has grown into a 15 year old ball of...well...they weren't sure what it was.  
  
His hair was spiked in a long mohawk, dyed black and orange, he had black lipstick on, his skin pale...even though his freckles still showing through, his shirt black and ripped and a myriad of chains and pins fasted to himself. It was obvious that Griff was going through an "identity crisis" phase. Some of the boarders even referred to Griff as a "young Psymon Stark".  
  
All of the riders looked relatively the same, even Elise who was infamous for changing her hair every season still managed to keep the same style. The crowed snapped out of its daze as Atomika's voice boomed over the speakers again. "I'm sure you are all wondering is that it? Well...its not. I did say there was more good news, didn't I?" The scene once again went to a fly by of peak 1. "There's even MORE riders joining the ranks this year.  
  
Last year I took a chance on a newbie girl, and she more than proved her worth and she has agreed join SSX for another season. This rider is no longer a newbie, and she is still in her prime! You know her and you love her, 16 year old Yurioki Yoshioka!"  
  
The crowd cheered wildly as the "innocent-yet-tough" Japanese girl appeared on the screen, grinning. She had changed somewhat, no longer looking like a "mini-Kaori". Her famous long brown braid was gone, as she had chopped off most of it. Her light brown hair clung to her face and she was smiling brightly. She still had a love for bucket hats, as she was wearing on in the picture, as well as pink tinted sunglasses.  
  
"And that's still not it! There's still four more riders I haven't introduced! But I'll let you in one secret. We only have two newbies this year!"-the reporters gasped slightly-"Yes, you heard me. Two riders from the PREVIOUS seasons are returning...but who could it be?" Atomika tapped his chin with a mock thought. "Anyway, the newbie...okay...you all might be a little-er, how shall I phrase this?-afraid of this guy, but really. There is nothing to be afraid of...I would like you all to meet, Jordan 'Drum' Williams-or simply 'Drum', as he likes to be called." The screen focused on a very tall and large black male, his dreadlocks hanging down passed his eyes with the green tips blowing in the wind, he did not look like a snowboarder at all, more like a football player, he was easily over six feet...maybe even close to seven, and he looked like he would weigh-at the least-300 lbs.  
  
"I know what you are thinking... 'How can this kid even board?' right? ...Well let me tell you, despite this guy's size, he more than makes up for it with his tricks. For someone so...heavy...he can really fly. I'm telling you, once you see his Proper Propeller Drumroll, you will NEVER doubt him again."  
  
The crowed pointed and laughed at the giant on screen, some even yelling crude jokes about his appearance, Atomika all shot them a glare of disgust. Atomika knew he had a knack from seeing some skill in someone, and he also knew that he was worthy of being there...he just hoped the other riders saw it his way as well.  
  
"So that leaves three more riders left, the new newbie...and well the two returning riders." Atomika smiled and waved at the camera. The crowd held their breath, waiting anxiously for Atomika to speak.  
  
"Well, that's all the time we have here on the tape," the Atomika on the screen said brightly, "you will see the three surprises at the press conference, which should be going on right now," The crowed laughed a little. "Now you all listen to this sexy piece of man in front of you. You'll be in for a shock. This is DJ Atomika, over and out." The screen slowly faded away and everyone turned their attention back to the real Atomika.  
  
"Well!? Who are these riders! We want to know!" A voice bellowed from the horde of reporters, the rest of them yelling in agreement.  
  
"Okay! Okay!" Atomika yelled before the crowd settled down. "Well, last year I was looking over the rules for the SSX circuit and I noticed a rule, you see." Atomika stroked his goatee as he spoke. "It seems that two riders that skip a circuit are eligible for the next circuit. So that got me to thinking...were there any riders that weren't able to be on the SSX3 tour that were willing to be a part of our 4th season?"  
  
Atomika paused for a second, the crowed hanging on his every word. "There was, and both riders I asked said they would be honored to come back! In fact they are inside right now...Maybe I should go get them?" Atomika motioned towards the door, He then took a step towards it and opened it...much to the crowds delight.  
  
Eddie, the afroed wonder from the SSX Tricky Tour stepped out and grinned wickedly, "HA-HA!!! Guess who's back, BABY!" Eddie ran out doing his trademark worm dance move on the ground. Everyone laughed and cheered for Eddie, as he was indeed a crowd favorite from the Tricky Tour. Soon enough, everyone fell silent as they focused their attention back on Atomika, who was smiling triumphantly. "And now...well..." Atomika paused, "Ah, I'll just let him introduce himself..."  
  
Atomika backed away from the door as a blonde male strutted through, looking like an extra in a boyband video, his stance just screamed charisma.  
  
"It is I! JP Aresnault!" JP yelled at the crowd, who cheered again. Atomika looking happy with himself walked over to the microphone, now standing in front of Eddie and JP. "I'm glad you all enjoy my choices. Well...since we are nearing the end of our press conference I'll just go ahead and introduce the newest rider to join the SSX family..."  
  
The crowed fell silent, even Eddie and JP stopped to focus on Atomika.  
  
"This guy...has come a long way in three years...being trained by some of the best snowboarders ever to grace the sport." He looked over at peak three, the fresh powder untouched. "Well...with no further wait...I'll introduce our last rider.." He smiled and turned towards the door, walking towards it, grabbing a board off of the wall to present it to the rider.  
  
"I will go and get him." Atomika flashed a grin at the crowd-who were dead silent-as he entered the lodge. Eddie and JP looked at each other with looks of confusion, the reporters murmured to themselves before they heard the shatter of glass from above. They all looked above them to find that the jumbo TV screen from earlier had just shattered and a boarder was flying through it, the boarder landed just behind them.  
  
He turned around waved at the crowd...then spoke. "The press conference is now over...I'll see you all at the bottom... This is DJ Atomika, your newest newbie. Over and out." With that, Atomika turned round and begin to board down The Throne of peak three. 


	2. Parade of the Newbies!

Chapter 2: Bios  
  
AN: This isnt really a full chapter, just introducing Drum and Atomika, and for those who havent read "Yuri" (SHAME ON YOU!) it re-introduces her.  
  
Nme: Jordan "Drum" Williams  
  
Handle: Drum, Ogre  
  
Age: 19  
  
Height: 6'8"  
  
Weight: 320 lbs  
  
Hair: Black and green dreadlocks.  
  
Nationality: African-Asian American (or as Moby will refer to it "Blackanese")  
  
Best Event: Big Air, Boardercross, Superpipe  
  
Trick: Proper Propellar Drumroll  
  
Friends: Mac, Kaori, Yuri (Mac, Yuri, Kaori, and JP have Drum marked as a friend.)  
  
Enemies: Moby (Nate, Moby, and Griff both have Drum marked as an enemy)  
  
Quote: "Big things come in even bigger packages."  
  
Name: DJ Atomika (No real name given)  
  
Handle: Atomika  
  
Age: 24  
  
Height: 6'2"  
  
Weight: 180 lbs  
  
Hair: Brown and purple short spikes.  
  
Nationality: American  
  
Best Event: Boardercross  
  
Trick: Rewind Bicycle Kick Air.  
  
Friends: Mac, Allegra, Eddie (Elise and Eddie have him marked as friend. Naturally,  
  
Allegra has all boys marked as friend.)  
  
Enemies: Kaori,Viggo (Kaori has him marked as an enemy)  
  
Quote: "Does anyone else work here other than me?......Thought so."  
  
Name: Yurioki Yoshioka  
  
Handle: Yuri, Cheerios  
  
Age: 17  
  
Height: 5'1"  
  
Weight: 114 lbs  
  
Hair: chin-length light brown hair  
  
Nationality: Japanese  
  
Best Event: Big Air  
  
Trick: Lounge-About Spinster  
  
Friends: Griff, Nate, Kaori, Drum (Griff, Nate, Kaori, and Drum have Yuri marked as "friend")  
  
Enemies: Mac, Allegra, Zoe (Mac and Allegra have Yuri marked as an enemy)  
  
Quote: "Black lipstick...sexy!" 


	3. The New BIG Mountain

Chapter 3: The New Big Mountain  
  
Parry: yay! A long chapter!!! Woohooo! I'm glad you all like my stories, but I have to say that this is FAR better than any of mine! I love helping Drum writing this story! The man is a GENIUS!  
  
Drum: She lies! This is my first fic ever...I'm only a newbie! Oh yes. For SSX Fan who asked about the pairings. Yuri's love will be revealed...hehehe.. and Drum's pairing? Maybe.  
  
Parry: *sings* Yuri's love revealed soon!! Wooo! So FUNNY!! ^_^ You guys are in for a BIG-no, make it HUGE-surprise about Yuri's pairing!  
  
Drum: I'll give you a hint about the pairings...it's NOT going to be Yuri/Drum  
  
Parry: Here's you much anticipated chapter! Okay...maybe I'm just exaggerating, but here it is! ^_^  
  
At "The Lodge"-as it was referred to by the SSX riders-a familiar figure sat in the lounge area in front of the fireplace, beat boxing to himself, who was none other than Rahzel. With his binder and clipboard in his hand he waited for the arrivals of the SSX riders. Now that Atomika has stepped down from event manager to actually ride, he was asked back to whip things into shape.  
  
Outside, the heli-plane touched down, sending the snow into a whirlwind of fury as its first group of riders got off, carrying their bags. The doors swung open as Elise Riggs bound into the room, running to hug Rahzel.  
  
"I just heard! Your back!" she smiled as she hugged Rahzel.  
  
"What? Did you think they were going to keep me away for too long?" he smiled and glanced over her shoulder at Eddie and Mac, who had just walked in behind her. The two were both in a deep conversation about the newest music.  
  
"Oh, they let Eddie and Fraser back in here?" Rahzel sighed, "This is going to be a looong year."  
  
"Yo! Razzle!" Mac said as he slapped Rahzel's hand. He was wearing his trademark beanie, but also he had something different on his face...his eyebrow was pierced.  
  
Elise chuckled at Mac's new jewelry, "Did you trip and land face first into a rail road spike?"  
  
Mac didn't even look at her as he muttered with a hateful undertone, "Depends...does your chest double as a floatation device?" Immediately, Elise lunged at him and Eddie began laughing. However, the doors swung open again. A short kid about 15 looking stomped in, his combat boots laced over his pants, his black trench coat flowing behind him. Elise, Eddie, and Mac stared at the youngster in horror. Griff's face was covered in heavy pale make up and he was wearing black lipstick.  
  
"Whatcha looken at?"  
  
Elise looked at Eddie, who looked at Mac. They all burst into a fit of giggles on the floor. Between his laughs, Mac managed to get a few words out. "Elise! I...didn't...land...on...the...railroad tracks! I...landed...on...GRIFF!" he choked out, tears streaming down his face as he tried to control himself. This sent even Rahzel over the edge as he began to laugh, using his clipboard to hide his face.  
  
"Figures that you preps would try to pick on me, you losers," Griff declared and jumped onto the couch, crossing his arms as another plane landed outside dropping off another set of riders.  
  
Outside of the doors a familiar laugh cackled over the howling winds, they all knew this voice to be none other that Psymon Stark, certified lunatic. What he was laughing so hard about, they didn't know. However, their question was soon answered when they heard someone shout, "OHMIGOD! What did you put on my pants!?" The doors burst open and Psymon came though, still looking like he hadn't changed clothes since their last tour, but had a big cake eating grin on his face.  
  
"Elise...Eddie...Mac.....who is this kid?" He nodded at Griff, completely skipping over Rahzel.  
  
"You know who I am, loser." Griff muttered darkly as he looked up at Psymon with a look of disgust. However, if this were three years ago, he would of been bouncing off of the walls.  
  
"...GRIFF!?" Psymon looked wide-eyed. "You mean this little punk was the littler punk from last season!?"  
  
"Yeah, looks like he grew up a bit." Elise chimed in, helping herself back onto the couch.  
  
"Gotta problem with it, old man?" Griff said threateningly.  
  
"OLD MAN!?" Psymon said deafeningly, "Did he just call me...?"  
  
Mac nodded.  
  
"You..." Psymon growled slightly as he pressed his face into Griff's angrily.  
  
"You heard me, you're the oldest one on the circuit." Griff said again, standing up a bit to get in Psymon's face as well.  
  
They both glared at each other for a second before Psymon burst into insane laughter.  
  
"PUBERTY MUST HAVE HIT THIS KID LIKE A TON OF BRICKS! HAHAHA!" Psymon cackled.  
  
"Why do you say that?" Eddie asked, looking confused.  
  
"Because his balls are even bigger than mine!" Psymon laughed and slapped Griff on the back, nearly knocking him over. Griff took the "compliment" and sat back down.  
  
Walking through the door next was Moby Jones, and he, too was also laughing at something. Eddie and Mac both gave a hateful glare at Moby as he entered; Elise was the only one who actually spoke up.  
  
"Heya Moby" she said, and then became interested with the patter on the couch cushion.  
  
"Ey, did you see the newbie bloke outside!?" Moby grinned, at the sound of that all of the riders looked up, to keep the surprise high, Atomika neglected to tell them that there was a newbie this year. Drum was outside.  
  
"A newbie!? Another one?" Griff moaned, "We just got a horde of them last season! They should be good for another three or four rounds!"  
  
All of the other riders looked at him.  
  
"Dude, you were ONE of those newbies last year..." Mac said quietly, "You're whack,"  
  
"Yeah, that was last year...but this year I'm a vet!" Griff said proudly. Obviously, Griff was already letting his "veteran" status get to his head.  
  
"So what are you going to do?" Elise asked, "Pick on this newbie kid?" Elise knew that Griff had changed his shell, but deep done on the inside, he was still the same old immature Griff.  
  
"Why not? There's nothing else to do." Griff began to head for the door, outside he ran smack into Drum.  
  
Griff grunted as he bounced off his frame.  
  
"Hey! Get out of the way! I gotta see somethin'!" Griff yelled at that large man he ran into.  
  
"What's the hurry?" Drum asked, as he offered Griff his hand to help him out of the snow.  
  
"There's a new newbie, I wanna see this kid!" Griff stood up on his own without the man's help, brushing snow off of him. Elise looked at Drum and blinked oddly.  
  
"You know, tourists aren't allowed up here..." Elise started to say to him, before Moby came up behind her still laughing. Moby pointed at Drum before barely making out his words between laughs.  
  
"That...IS..the newbie."  
  
Mac's mouth was hanging slightly open. Eddie stared at him in awe and Elise, it seemed, had nothing to say. Psymon broke the silence with snickering. "Wow...Atomika really knows how to pick 'em..."  
  
"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" Drum looked directly over...and down at Psymon.  
  
Eddie glanced at Moby, who was busy snickering to himself, "Oi, there will be none of that, tubby." Moby spoke to Drum as if he were speaking to an infant, "Bad enough you are a newbie, mate. We don't need you here starting fights on the first day..." Moby said strictly.  
  
Drum clenched his fists and looked like he was going to drive Moby's head through a wall...and he very well could of, too.  
  
The next few hours weren't really groundbreaking. Moby proceeded to tease Drum at every chance, Elise later found out that Moby thought Drum was trying to move in on his market...the African-American viewers of the SSX.  
  
Psymon kept a close eye on Griff as the other boarders arrived, Griff seemed to have a snide remark to all of them...except one person on the last set of riders. By eight o'clock all of the riders had already arrived except for Yuri, Kaori, Zoe, and Allegra. Viggo and JP already had an earlier clash of egos.  
  
"This is going to be one VERY long year...they are going to try to out- pretty themselves." Nate stated, chewing on a straw.  
  
At sign of the last plane, Mac and Moby both jumped up and headed for the door, they both had someone important on the plane. As the plane touched down, a familiar Japanese girl stepped out and brushed her hair from her face.  
  
"KAORI!!!" Mac yelled as he ran full speed and hugged her tight, lifting her up and spinning her around, then he planted a deep kiss on her lips.  
  
"Mackie-chan...mmm.." she took the kiss and cuddled him.  
  
JP and Eddie looked at themselves as if they had missed something. "Wait...you mean...Mac and Kaori...?" JP said blankly.  
  
"Yep, going on four years..." Atomika was standing behind them.  
  
Next person off the plane was Yuri, at this Mac stopped cuddling Kaori and turned to Yuri. "...You came back..." Mac said with a distasteful undertone. Yuri looked up at Mac, they had started off as good friends last season, but when she beat him at his own event, Mac didn't seem to like her anymore.  
  
"Why else would I not comeback?" Yuri narrowed her eyes and dared him to say anything, not really caring about Mac's bad mood, but really caring about Kaori's good mood. Kaori let go of Mac and hugged Yuri.  
  
"PANDA!" she lifted Yuri up off of the snow. Yuri and Kaori discussed what had happened over the dormat years as Allegra got off the plane. Viggo near trampled everyone trying to get over to her.  
  
"Ally! You came back!" Viggo reached down to kiss her hand only to notice that it had been taken by JP.  
  
"'Ello there..." JP kissed Allegra's hand. "I am Jean-Pierre...you can call me JP...what is your name?"  
  
Allegra blushed a little and looked between JP and Viggo. Viggo was staring daggers into JP. "May I take your bags and board?" JP offered, then without her answer he picked up her bags and walked her inside. Viggo kicked the snow in a feeble fit of rage before going inside as well.  
  
At last, Zoe Payne stepped off the plane, looking around for any signs of one of her best friends, Moby Jones.  
  
"HAY! LOVE!" Moby ran up the ramp and hugged Zoe, and tried to move in for a kiss...but Zoe turned her head and he got nothing but cheek.  
  
"Hey, Mobes." Zoe slung her bag over her shoulder and walked in, leaving Moby in the snow. After a few seconds Moby grabbed Zoe's board and walked in as well.  
  
Inside the lodge was a different atmosphere. Everyone was talking to one another, catching up on their off time. Griff seemed to jumped off of the couch when Yuri entered the room. Yuri looked at Griff oddly, she obviously recognized him.  
  
"Griff...you got...er...tall..." Yuri looked at him eye to eye, last season he barely came passed her shoulder. Griff blushed, but it was barely seen through his deep makeup.  
  
"Yuri...you grew...out..." Griff's head had slunk down and focused on Yuri's chest. Yuri blushed a deep shade of purple and headed for Nate, who welcomed her with open arms.  
  
"Yuri! You're here! Your hair!"  
  
Yuri grinned, "Like it? Decided to get it cut!"  
  
"It's...really...short..." Nate said, tilting his head to one side. "You really grew up, Yuri,"  
  
"Thanks, Griff already...mentioned...that..." Yuri said quietly as she glanced at Griff, who was still staring at her in fascination.  
  
"Yeah, I talked to little man. Did you see-"  
  
"Oh yeah," Yuri said quickly, "How could you NOT see all that stuff on his face?"  
  
"Weird, huh?"  
  
"Weird?" Yuri blinked, "Hmm. I think it's kinda cute...in a Griff way,"  
  
Nate laughed as Yuri screwed up her face in disgust when she noticed Griff was still staring at her.  
  
Everyone was seated except for Drum by the time Rahzel finally re-entered the main area.  
  
"Okay, Okay! Everyone settle down..." Rahzel let his voice boom over the riders as they all fell silent. "Thank you, for you of those who don't know me. I am Rahzel, returning event manager of SSX, and for those of you that do know me, shut up and listen." Rahzel walked over to the large shutters in the room and pulled them open. The window overlooked "Big Mountain" there was something noticeably different. "As you know, Big Mountain is known for some pretty strange weather. Here is one of its testaments...Big Mountain has suffered from countless avalanches and rockslides." All of the riders looked at Big Mountain closely. "Thus, from all of the rocks and snow...Big Mountain is no longer only three peaks..its now five peaks." Psymon and Nate gave a small round of applause. Rahzel looked at them sternly. "Now, that means there's two peaks previously unexplored. We know you won't let that happen for long."  
  
"DAMN RIGHT WE WON'T!" Atomika blurted out from under Elise, who was sitting on his lap.  
  
Rahzel frowned disapprovingly at Atomika and shook his head. "Anyway, this goes without saying. Be careful up there...and the SSX Council thought it would be better if we put a bit of a twist on this year's circuit...any rider who has been here for three years are longer now has a special title: Snow God." All of the season one vets looked at each other with confused expressions.  
  
Kaori raised her hand shyly, "Snow God?"  
  
"Well, it's simple. Now there's only a few of you...put it this way, you all are the 'bosses' of the mountain. Instead of having one of you rule a certain peak, all of you can rule a certain event, or you can make up one of your own. For riders to get into higher areas of the mountain, they have to beat you when you challenge them....even if it means Snow God against Snow God."  
  
Moby smiled at this, but JP frowned, "...I skipped last season...that means I can't be a Snow God..." JP pouted, using it merely as an excuse to rest his head on Allegra's shoulder. Viggo threw a pillow at his face in a rage.  
  
"Actually, JP, Since you are a season one veteran, the council has granted you Snow God status as well.."  
  
"Anyway, there are more matters of business. I would like you all to meet Jordan Williams." He motioned over to Drum, who was leaning against the board rack. Drum walked over and stood awkwardly next to Rahzel. Drum made Rahzel look like garden gnome compared to him. "He is this years only new rider...I wouldn't really call Atomika a newbie, he has had time to get adjusted to the peaks."  
  
Drum waved shyly and caught the eye of Zoe who was looking him up and down.  
  
"So, since Luther didn't agree to come back you picked anotha fatass to fill his shoes?" Moby commented. No one laughed at the comment; instead Zoe gave Moby a disgusted look and slid away from him.  
  
"That wasn't even remotely cool, Mobes." Zoe muttered, looking at Drum again.  
  
Drum hung his head and whispered to Rahzel. "Can I sit down now..." Rahzel nodded and Drum took his seat in the back, behind everyone...  
  
Yuri looked over at Drum as he sat down and frowned as she whispered to Nate, "I remember what it was like being the newbie...poor guy, Moby's just gonna give him hell,"  
  
Nate nodded.  
  
Rahzel turned the page in his binder and smiled. "Last order of business..."  
  
Psymon and Griff both simultaneously yelled, "THANK GOD!"  
  
"Rooming arrangements..."  
  
Everyone shut up to hear who they would be rooming with, even Drum had leaned forward a bit in his chair.  
  
"Well, myself and the council thought it would be a bad idea to put a couple in the same room...so Mac and Kaori aren't rooming together, despite their request."  
  
Mac and Kaori both gave Rahzel the evil eye.  
  
"So...the rooming arrangements will go as follows: Stark rooms alone. Drum rooms with Mac, Griff rooms with Elise, Zoe rooms with Kaori, Allegra rooms with Viggo, Nate rooms with JP, Eddie rooms with Atomika, Moby can room alone if he wants...Well, that's it. You can all leave now."  
  
Yuri just blinked blankly. "Rahzel? Er...sir?"  
  
"Yes?" Rahzel grinned; he wasn't used to being called 'sir'.  
  
"You kind of...forgot about me." Yuri said quietly, glancing at Kaori.  
  
Kaori frowned, "How do you forget one of the boarders?"  
  
"She can room with me again!" Griff shot his hand into the air.  
  
"No, Griff, you're rooming with Elise,"  
  
At this, Elise snorted and muttered, "This is going to be interesting..."  
  
"What!?" Griff said.  
  
"Nothing. I just find it odd that I'm rooming with the antichrist over here."  
  
Griff glowed with anger.  
  
"Anyway," Rahzel said quickly in a feeble attempt to break the tension, "Yuri, you can room with Zoe and Kaori, I suppose. We have a bigger room in the back that's really supposed to be the supply room, but since you three girls will be in the same room, I could let you bunk there for now,"  
  
Kaori and Yuri squealed in delight. Zoe sighed. She was friends with Kaori and all, but with Yuri, it was neutral.  
  
As everyone got up, Atomika shifted from under Elise and yelled. "Raz must of forgotten about our tradition!" All of the riders looked up at Atomika.  
  
"Tomorrow, all rider race down Happiness!" All of the riders cheered except Drum. All of them were used to this kind of thing...racing down the snow. Drum however...this was his first time ever seeing snow. In Florida he learned and practiced snowboarding on sand.  
  
As Drum got up to head to his room, Zoe stopped him. "Don't mind Moby...he can be a real jerk sometimes." Zoe said to him, walking alongside him.  
  
"Sometimes? He seems like he is a permanent asshole." Drum said, not really wanted to get pity talk from Zoe.  
  
"Well, he is a really nice guy if you get to know him..." Zoe trailed off a bit as Moby popped up beside her and grabbed her arm.  
  
"Wanna go check out my room, love?" Moby smiled at her, again going for a kiss and getting all cheek.  
  
"Sure...fine" Zoe answered apathetically and followed Moby down the hall, not before waving at Drum.  
  
Drum headed to his room and just plopped on his bed and watched Kaori help Mac unpack.  
  
Yuri appeared in the doorway, "Kaori, you coming?"  
  
"Get out of here, you snotface," Mac growled.  
  
Yuri only frowned, "Shut up before I pull that metal thing attached to your face off,"  
  
Mac's face twisted into pure hatred as he slammed the door in Yuri's face after Kaori whispered, "I'll be there in a second," in Japanese.  
  
"Mac, you're such a jerk-off! Just because I'm better than you!!" Yuri said from behind the door.  
  
Mac clenched his fists and ignored her. Kaori smiled and rubbed Mac's back soothingly, "You were the one who started it in the last circuit..."  
  
"No I didn't..." Mac protested.  
  
Kaori glanced over at Drum and sighed. "Mackie...I don't think Drum is happy..." Kaori whispered to Mac.  
  
"Nah, he's okay...just nervous." Mac smiled.  
  
"Yeah...I'm fine...just...nervous...yeah..." Drum lied; he really didn't like it here. He knew that he was in way over his head...and he was scared shitless about tomorrow's race. 


	4. Old Rivalries, New Rivalries, Unexpected...

AN: THIS IS BY PARRY! (^_^) I got to write a full chapter! Yay! Hmm...what can I say? Lot's of competition in today's race, folks! Lot's of old rivalries are renewed and a lot of new rivalries are born! And, Yuri's love is soon to be revealed! 

Nosymp's Angel: FINALLY!!!!!!! *glares daggers at parry*

Parry: Heh ^_^;;...well, anyway, enjoy the chapter! Lot's of boarding action and a BIG shock coming up especially for Starlight and Nosymp's Angel in this chappie! ^_^ This chapter is for you two, cause Starlight is always the first to review "Yuri" and Nosymp's Angel writes KICK-ASS stories! And Nosymp's Angel also supports my Psymon/Kaori pairing in my other story! You guys have been great! 

Also, chibi cry for me! I got my SSX3 strategy guide taken away for looking at it during lunch! Waaaah! It had posters of each character, too! -_-v

Chapter 4

Rahzel sighed and flipped up his collar. The wind wasn't all that cooperative that day, and the newly fallen snow didn't make any promising boarding conditions. 

"Which one's Nate?" Rahzel said loudly. 

Nate raised two fingers up in the air, "That'd be me,"

"And Griff?"

"The punk with all that make-up over there, Razz," Mac said, pointing at Griff. 

"I apologize for not really knowing some of your names," Rahzel said as he placed his pen on his ear.

The boarders were stretching and warming up for their race in Happiness, the tradition DJ Atomika had started in the previous circuit. Rahzel was going around—clipboard in hand—trying to figure out who everyone was.

Drum shivered. It was pretty cold up on the BIG mountain, and things back down in Florida had been a bit different. Drum glanced at Moby, who was talking to Zoe Payne. 

"Hey, bloke, watcha lookin' at, eh?" Moby waved at Drum, grinning.

Drum quickly looked down at his boots to avoid eye contact with Moby.

"You shouldn't be so hard on him, Moby." Zoe said quietly. "He's a newbie, and you know that there were a lot of newbie's last year,"

"Eh, I don't like 'im one bit, there, Zoe," Moby said, "He's too bloody big and stupid, probably,"

Zoe frowned, "Just back off, okay? You already got Mac on your back all the time...you know you two are rivals—"

"Eh, I wouldn't be to sure about that one, love," Moby motioned over to Mac, who was approaching Yuri. "He seems to be busyin' himself with other rivalries,"

Zoe shrugged, "Hmm...I don't like Yuri all that much,"

Moby raised an eyebrow, "Why not? She's a damn good boarder and she's cute, to boot,"

"Cute, yes," Zoe said, "but that's what bothers me. She's like a Kaori-wannabe,"

Moby chuckled, "Yuri's a good kid and no matter how strong her friendship with Kaori may be, Mac'll always be on her tail, I can tell you that,"

"I dunno about all this, Mobes," Zoe said quietly, "I mean, they've been recruiting a lot of little kids. You know, Yuri and Griff. And what was with Yuri bringing her family over last season? She had no right to do that,"

Moby shrugged, "Griff, I have a problem with. Yuri was homesick, though, love. I'm sure you were, too. Besides, it seems like the circuit don't hire _little people no more. They seem to take a liking to _big people_," Moby stated the last two sentences a bit louder to catch Drum's attention._

***

"Ready for a pounding?" Mac challenged.

"A pounding?" Yuri grinned wickedly, "Okay, just don't whine when I make you eat snow,"

Mac growled, "You got a lotta nerve,"

"Me? You're the one who started it with me, Mac!" Yuri said angrily, "You're the one who started being a complete jerk-off!"

"Panda..." Kaori put a hand on Yuri's shoulder, but Yuri brushed it away.

"You need to grow up, Mac! Get over yourself! I'm a better boarder than you! I took your throne last season, _get over it_!"

Mac only narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists. "Okay, punk, you get ready, cause you're gonna get a taste of a smack down,"

Yuri snorted, "Doesn't sound at _all_ intimidating."

"You just wait."

***

"What's up, kid?" Nate nodded at Griff, who was staring at Yuri not for the first time.

"Nothin'..." Griff said quietly as he quickly averted his attention to his boots. 

"You...changed..." Nate tilted his head to one side and examined Griff's hair. "A...lot..."

"Yeah..."

"Kind of like a mini-Psymon..." Nate declared hesitantly.

Griff scowled, "I'm my own person. I'm unique."

Nate chuckled, "Right,"

Rahzel appeared behind Griff and tapped him on the shoulder, "You Griff Simmons?"

Griff nodded.

"Nice...appearance?" Rahzel offered and moved on to Psymon, who was now tugging on Kaori's pigtails.

Griff paused and looked at Nate solemnly, "Hey, Nate?"

"Yeah?"

"What do you do if you like a girl?"

***

Drum looked anxiously down at the track before him. All of the other riders—save for Eddie and JP—knew exactly what they were doing. Drum glanced helplessly at the other boarders.

He had only caught Moby's eye.

"What are you lookin' at?"

Drum once again proceeded to stare at his feet. He wasn't the type of guy to start a fight, but still, Moby just seemed to _hate_ him. 

Kaori and Yuri spoke quietly about who they personally thought who was going to win.

"Do you really think he is good at boarding? He does not have the build for it," Kaori said quietly.

Yuri shrugged, "Looks can be deceiving,"

"Oh, _no_..." Kaori whispered miserably.

"CHEERIOS!" Psymon screamed as he clamped his hands down on Yuri's shoulders, "Been a while! How yah been?"

Yuri shook with anger.

"And look at this, it's Miss Happiness herself," Psymon grinned, "What have you two been doing over the vacation? How's your brother, Ryan, Yuri?"

"Fine," 

"And you, Kaori, did you get Mac to put that thing in his eyebrow?"

Kaori didn't respond. Instead, the strapped on her board and coasted down to the beginning of the Happiness course, for Rahzel had announced that the race was beginning.

Psymon watched Kaori leave and then focused his attention on Yuri. "See you at the bottom," he sneered and coasted off.

***

Rahzel had boarded the heli-jet and was hovering over the Happiness course, watching all the boarders line up at the beginning. 

"Okay," he said through a small microphone that went through to everyone M-comms, "Good luck to all of you, and remember, this is purely traditional,"

Atomika snorted, "Just bring it on!"

Psymon rolled his eyes, "Atomika, I think you should stick to talking your ass off. It was all you were good for,"

Immediately, half of the boarders began laughing uncontrollably. Eddie bent over, clutching his stomach and laughing at Atomika, whose face was bright red.

"Alright, alright, settle down, kids. Let's be professional for once in our pathetic lives," Rahzel muttered over the M-comm, "Stark, one more comment like that and I'll see to it that you're suspended for the rest of the circuit,"

Psymon only grinned lazily, "Spoil-sport..."

"Three."

Everyone put their game face on and leaned forward.

"Two."

Further. All of the boarders could practically see themselves flying across the landscape, soaring towards the finish line.

"One."

_This was it..._

"GO!"

The first person to take the lead was Psymon. Mac was leaning forward with his knees bent, approaching Psymon quickly. Psymon groaned when he saw Mac on his tail and swung out at him, but missed. Nearly losing his balance, Psymon swerved to the sides, loosing his position to Mac and Nate. 

"Goddamn..." Psymon muttered darkly. 

Griff stayed close behind Psymon with Yuri on his tail.

"Yo, mini-me, wanna see if you can beat your future self?" Psymon jeered.

Griff smirked, "Sure, why not?" However, try as he might, Griff couldn't keep up with Psymon. Yuri was slowly slipping away, losing her place to Elise.

"See you later, alligator!" Elise sang happily as she soared over head Yuri.

Yuri cursed under her breath. She soon smiled inwardly to herself as she remembered her first race last year against all the boarders. How shocked she was that she was losing to a twelve year old. Well, now she was losing to a fourteen year old. Yuri was now seventeen. She wasn't going to let that happen.

***

The war between JP and Viggo raged on. While Allegra was behind the two boys, JP and Viggo were busy trying to outdo each other to impress Allegra. 

"Back off!" Viggo said angrily as he swerved to his right onto a ramp and executing a backside flip. 

"We shall see about zat!" JP shouted after Viggo as he increased his speed, "Zee JP has not lost it!"  
Soon enough, Viggo found himself losing control over his board as he fell face first into the snow. JP grinned wickedly as he boarded by, a look of mock sympathy on his face. "Aw, are you okay, mon amie?"

Viggo found himself laughing, however, as JP slammed into a tree. 

Allegra coasted by the two boarders, shaking her head in disapproval.

JP pouted as he patted the snow out of his hair. "This is all your fault!"

***

JP and Viggo's rivalry was nothing compared to the acid remarks and insults Moby and Drum were throwing at each other.

Zoe was ahead of the two boys, with Drum behind and Moby following closely. Moby growled. He was losing to some stupid _twat_ who thought he was superior just because he was big as a cow...

Drum felt Moby push him from behind. Try as he might, however, Drum wouldn't fall to Moby. 

"How much d'you weigh, tubby?"

Drum only grinned and pushed forward, eager to keep up with his fellow comptetitors. He had some difficulty getting used to the weather conditions and the fresh powder snow—which were horrible snowboarding conditions, he heard Yuri say—but soon enough Drum found himself slowly accelerating and passing _Mr. Jones_.

Zoe kept glancing over at her back and offered Drum a smile. "C'mon, then, Drum! Let's see what you got!"

The friendly rivalry between Zoe and Drum continued, much to Moby's annoyance. Finally, after many feeble attempts, Moby literally _threw himself at Drum, knocking him aside as well as himself._

Moby recovered quickly, however, and sped off into a shortcut, grinning triumphantly. He had finally taken the big man down.

***

Mac and Nate were having quite the showdown. 

With Psymon out of the way, Mac felt that he was a sure win. "C'mon, Mountain Man! Let's play _rough!_"

Nate frowned as he swung at Mac. Mac, however, was too quick for him. Swerving to his left at the last minute, he shot through a shortcut, leaving Nate thoroughly outraged. 

"Dammit, Fraser,"

(_It's just a game...) Nate thought to himself, (_Just a game..._) Nate had worked hard to gain a spot on the previous SSX circuit and had been thrilled to be in the circuit again this year, but had been having some personal battles with himself. He was no longer seeing it as a lifestyle, it was turning into a competition to him, and that's what bothered him. He usually wasn't like this...so eager to win..._

He glanced over his shoulder, and saw a little pale-faced midget coming at him at top speed.

"ARRRRGH!!!" Nate yelled out in surprise as Griff shot by him, laughing. 

"I'm beating Psymon!" Griff whistled. "Woooo! Today _rocks_!"

Nate grinned, "Yeah, just a game,"

***

Elise cursed loudly. Yuri had found a shortcut and was probably miles ahead. Elise was beginning to lose her focus as Allegra passed her.

"Oh, _no,_ Elise, however will I pass you?" Allegra said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "You're going _so fast!"_

"Can it, Frenchie!" Elise retorted. 

Allegra, however, was already far ahead.

***

"Where did you come from!?" Mac shouted in surprise as Yuri soared above Mac and hit the snow. 

(_First place!_) Yuri smiled, (_Finally, Mac can't say anything no more!)_

Yuri's victory, however, was short lived. Mac, in a rage, swung his fist at her face, not holding back.

Yuri screamed as she flipped over, tumbling behind in the snow, slamming into the side of the ice when Mac's fist made contact with the crook of her neck. Face down in the snow, Yuri could hear Mac say, "Oh, shit!"  
She knew he wasn't going to slow down to help her. Mac was an ass.

Yuri pushed herself up with her hands and watched Mac board away, looking back at her with a face full of concern. Yuri collapsed. Her head was spinning and she couldn't see clearly.

***

Drum lost his place to Atomika and Eddie. 

He was in last place. 

"Damn you, Jones," Drum said quietly as he pushed himself up. 

Drum was going as fast as he could, boarding across the track with ease. His course was uneventful, however. Moby's shove—or more like assault—had pushed him all the way into the back.

"What the--?" Drum slowed down to a halt. Was that a...?  
"Ugggh..."

"Yuri? Is your name Yuri?" Drum asked as he fell down immediately to help her.

Yuri nodded absentmindedly, "Yeah...yeah...who...?"

"Drum," Drum said quickly, "The big newbie?"

"Oh..." Yuri shook her head and brushed the snow off her shoulders.

"Who...? Who knocked you out?"  
"Fraser..." Yuri said, her voice full of acid. "That asshole,"

"No one stopped to help you?"

Yuri shrugged, "Guess not. This is a pretty aggressive competition," 

"C'mon, I guess we're the last ones,"

"Thanks, Drum," Yuri had to bend backwards a bit to catch full sight of him. 

"No prob,"

The two boarders pushed on, eager to meet their rivals.

***

"_Where in the hell is Yuri?" Griff whined, "She's not here!?"_

Mac snorted, "The little snot decided to get smart with me, so I got a little aggressive,"

Kaori gasped, "Mac!" 

Psymon grinned lazily, "Did yah hit her good?"

Mac nodded.

"That's mah boy!" Psymon said proudly.

Kaori shook her head in disgust. "You're sick, Mackie! What if something happened to her?"

"Hmmph. If she got hurt from _that_ little tap, she might as well go home now. She's just a weakling,"

Zoe nodded in agreement but Moby only frowned, "You always liked picking on people smaller than you, Fraser, eh?"

"You trying to say something, _Jones?"_

Zoe sighed impatiently, "Has anyone seen the newbie?"  
"Oi, I have," Moby said, "Pushed him off me. The bloke wouldn't leave me alone!"

Mac pointed accusingly at Moby as Kaori advanced upon him, "See!? Moby is just as aggressive!"  
Griff threw himself at Mac, hurling his fist into his stomach, "Asshole!!"

Kaori gasped and tried feebly to pull the two boarders apart. Nate grabbed Griff and held him back as Psymon had to restrain Mac. 

"You little _punk_!" Mac spat angrily, "You just _try_ and do that again!"

"Shut up already!" Elise said loudly, "You're such a jerk! Just wait until they all get here!"

Eddie nodded, "She's got a point. Let's just chill a little, okay, Mackenzie?"

Mac growled at the mention of his name, but otherwise paid no heed to it. Eddie and Mac were tight friends, and he didn't mind him. 

Viggo, JP, and Allegra were the first to see Yuri and Drum advancing towards the finish line. They seemed to be competing against each other.

***

Yuri was trailing behind Drum. She was still a bit dizzy, and she didn't mind anyway. 

Drum approached the finish line anxiously. He caught Moby's eye and growled. 

"What's wrong, mate? Got a problem?"  
"Yes," Drum said quietly.

Zoe offered a weak smile at Drum and put her hand on Moby's shoulder, "Knock it off,"

Moby nodded in defeat and walked off, not before sizing Drum.

"You'll have to forgive him, he's a jackass."

Drum nodded.

Yuri, however, was steaming. Snowboard over her shoulder, she swung furiously at the DJ, screaming at him. "You JERK! You left me back there!!! You knocked me out!!!"

Griff followed her example and jumped on Mac's back, beating him in the head. Nate sighed and exchanged glances with Psymon, Kaori and Atomika. The four nodded in agreement as they began to tear the trio apart. 

"I'm gonna _kill_ you, Mac Fraser! You bastard!" Yuri screamed.

"I'll have none of that on my circuit," Atomika said sternly, but then quickly realized that he was a boarder. There was a pause of silence, then all of the boarders began laughing, save for Yuri and Mac, who were glaring at each other in pure loathing.

"I told you you'd be getting a taste of my smackdown,"

Yuri snorted, "Well, guess what? You're gonna be getting a taste of something soon enough,"

"Panda..." Kaori sighed and tried to get Yuri to focus on anything but Mac.

***

Rahzel laughed. "So, you're telling me you lost to your mini-self?"

Psymon nodded.

The boarders and Rahzel were sitting in the lodge, relaxing as the fireplace burned on quietly. The day was closing to an end and the riders were permitted to take the day off, seeing as most of them had obtained injuries during the "traditional practice race".

"Hey," Elise said slowly, "Speaking of, where is the little booger?"

Rahzel raised an eyebrow, "You know, that's a good question, Elise."

"Probably in his room," Psymon said gruffly. 

"Stark, can you go check on him? His room number is—"

"I can get him. I'm rooming with him, after all." Elise said.

"Okay," Rahzel shrugged, "Go with Stark,"

Psymon sighed irritably as he followed Elise to the backrooms. "Which one's yours?" He muttered.

"This one..." Elise said suspiciously. Her room was unlocked, and the door was open slightly.

"Well, then, go on!" Psymon pushed opened the door without warning. 

Several things happened at once. 

Griff immediately moved his hands off of Yuri's waist and shouted out in surprise. Yuri and Elise, however, were screaming in horror. Psymon was staring wide-eyed at Yuri, who had Griff's black lipstick smeared on her lips and neck.

"What the _hell _were you doing?"

"What do _you_ think?" Griff retorted.

"Yuri..." Elise whispered, "...you got a bit of make-up...there—there you got it,"

Psymon's look of horror slowly twisted into an insane smile. "MINI-ME AND CHEERIOS, SITTING IN A TREE! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

Yuri's face turned bright red as she exchanged glances with Griff, who was frowning. Yuri pushed her way past Psymon and made her way to the bathroom to wash her face.

"What was going on in here?" Elise murmured.

"We were having a _full-blown make-out session, thank you! And you stupid retards had to ruin it!!_" Griff said angrily.

"Oh...this is going to be fun," Psymon grinned devilishly.

AN: OOOOOOO! Shocker? YES! Hee, hee! The whole "MINI-ME AND CHEERIOS" thing that Psymon sang was Drum's idea. Is he not _brilliant or what_?! ^_^ Starlight, I know you're in shock, aren't you? And Nosymp's Angel, stop staring at the computer screen in horror. Okay! ^_^ Please review! Hee hee!


	5. Love Hurts

Chapter 5: Love Hurts  
  
AN from Drum: This chapter is going to either piss you all off...or make you happy. This one is also a tad more serious in tone than the others.  
  
It was about 10PM in the lodge. Everyone else had already gone to sleep save for a couple of racers.  
  
Psymon had tired himself out with chasing around Griff and Yuri, teasing them both about their botched make out session. Drum hadn't returned from Happiness yet. The lodge was very quiet, no one was awake except for Moby and Zoe, who were nicely cuddled on the couch, watching replays from last season's circuit.  
  
"Ya know, I think last year was the best one so far..."  
  
Moby said with a nod, looking at Psymon do a perfect Lukeloo over a batch of fallen trees. Zoe sat awkwardly next to Moby, who was shifting closer and closer towards her.  
  
"Hey, look. There's the snowball fight from last year.." Zoe said, trying to keep Moby's attention off of her.  
  
"Yeah...I remember that.." Moby sighed, scooting closer to her, almost so close that she could feel the air from his blinks.  
  
"Mobes, why so close?" Zoe asked, a bit defensively. Moby looked somewhat surprised at this and turned his attention back towards the TV.  
  
"I just thought you might've wanted a bit of company, love." Moby said dryly, trying to look ashamed. Zoe didn't say anything, she just looked at him curiously.  
  
"I still rememba what happened last season, love...you and me on Thanksgiving..."  
  
Zoe's eyes widened, she remembered exactly what she had did that day.  
  
"Come on, Mobes, you still on that?" she chuckled uneasily.  
  
"Yeah, how could I forget?" Moby smiled, making this is chance to scoot closer.  
  
"Look, I was drunk and I didn't know what the hell I was doing that night." Zoe stated, trying to stop Moby in his tracks.  
  
"Then why did it happen for the rest of the season?" Moby asked, knowing he had her backed into a corner.  
  
Zoe still kept her face straight as she fished around for an answer.  
  
"Stress relief" she said dryly.  
  
Moby wasn't buying it, he rested his hand on her leg and moved in for a kiss.  
  
"I mean, a girl works up a lot of str—mmph!" Zoe was caught off-guard and got a mouth full of unwanted tongue.  
  
Zoe pushed Moby's face away from hers and gasped for breath.  
  
"What the HELL do you think you are doing!?" Zoe yelled, almost loud enough to wake everyone in the lodge.  
  
"I was just given ya some suga, love." Moby smiled, proud of himself. Zoe, however was pissed.  
  
"Look, what happened last season was just a few flings, Mobes. Ever since then you have acted like I'm your goddamn girlfriend or something!" Zoe began to stand up, shoving Moby away from her. Moby looked somewhat offended, but yet still had a smile on his face.  
  
"I like the way you always play hard to get, love." Moby stood up in front of her.  
  
"I'm NOT playing hard to get, what the fuck, Moby!? Cant you get it through your head!?" Zoe yelling louder and louder now, Mac trudging down the stairs slowly.  
  
Moby tried to quiet her down, but Zoe wasn't having any of it.  
  
"Love! Love! Please...you dun wanna wake up the whole bloody lodge, do ya?" Moby tried to no avail.  
  
Mac was standing at the edge of the stairs now, in a pair of pajama shorts and a white t-shirt, even in his sleep he kept that beanie on.  
  
"Yo! People are trying to sleep around here! Take your domestic troubles outside!" Mac shouted at them.  
  
Zoe looked at Mac, then at Moby. She dropped her hands to the side and sighed.  
  
"Look, Moby. Your a nice guy and all...and I still LOVE the accent...but...it's not gonna work out."  
  
Mac and Moby both had a look of shock on their faces as Zoe said this.  
  
"..Wh...what?" Moby looked at her, his shades tilted down so she can see his eyes.  
  
"You...you try to hard, Mobes...you move too fast...and well...you just aren't the same Moby I knew from the other seasons. I'm sorry."  
  
With that, Zoe turned around and headed to the kitchen, it was quite obvious that she didn't want to be followed.  
  
Moby would have been a bright shade of red if he was able to blush; he quickly snapped his head at Mac, who was looking just as shocked as he was.  
  
"Oh no, don't look at me." Mac held his hands out in front of him, knowing Moby was looking for someone to blame.  
  
"I ain't have a damn thing to do with this." Mac turned around heading up stairs, soon as he was out of Moby's sight he began to chuckle under his breath. Moby was all alone in the lobby...he stood there clenching his fists, looking at his board in the corner. He quickly grabbed it and ran out of the doors, heading to let off some steam on Happiness..  
  
~~~~  
  
"So, what made you want to become a boarder?" Elise asked Atomika from across the trolley they were both riding. Atomika was munching hungrily on a hamburger while shoveling fries into his mouth. Elise still had her single hamburger in her hand, she hadn't even taken a bite out of it.  
  
Atomika took a gulp of his soda before talking.  
  
"Well, last season all I did was sit up in Radio BIG studio...no one around. Ever. Just me and the mountain cams. The only time I ever got to see another soul is when I came down the lodge..and that was only for a few minutes." He placed another fry into his mouth.  
  
Elise nodded at his conversation and slide closer to him.  
  
"So, theres no reason...or person in particular that you joined for?" Elise gave a weak smile.  
  
Atomika stared at her blankly.  
  
"Umm...well...not really..." He looked back down at his now nearly eaten burger. Elise looked down at hers.  
  
"Hey...Elise?" Atomika turned towards Elise, looking into her eyes.  
  
"Yeah?" Elise looked into his, their heads moving closer...  
  
Elise knew what was comming, she closed her eyes and puckered her lips.  
  
"...You gonna eat that burger?" Atomika asked.  
  
Upon opening her eyes, Elise could see that Atomika was eyeing the untouched hamburger in her hands. Elise quickly shoved the burger towards his chest and looked out the window.  
  
"I cant believe..." Elise mumbled, she looked upset but Atomika didn't even notice, he was too busy staring out of his window in awe.  
  
"...I was right...." Atomika whispered to himself.  
  
Elise looked over her shoulder to see what Atomika was talking about and saw an amazing sight.  
  
Drum was soaring down Happiness, hitting every turn, every ramp, grinding on everything that let him. Elise pointed at the window.  
  
"That's the same newbie who came second to last place today?"  
  
Atomika nodded. "Yep, I think he just needed time to adjust to the peak...I think he has it fairly well..."  
  
Drum slide along the mountain, letting the flashlight on his helmet guide him along as he hit a particularly long jump.  
  
Atomika stood and yelled.  
  
"HERE IT IS!"  
  
Elise jumped at the noise and looked at Atomika oddly. "Here what is?" she asked.  
  
"His signature trick. Just watch..." Atomika grinned, his nose pressed to the window.  
  
Drum quickly took his board and spun it around his calf, almost imitating Griff's "Sugar Rush" trick, before the board finished spinning he grabbed the tail and of it and spun it over his head sideways, the board spun above his head like a propeller. Drum then aligned his body with the board an spread his arms out, imitating an airplane.  
  
"Oh...my...god..." Elise looked on; she couldn't believe someone of this size was pulling off a trick like that.  
  
Drum flew almost directly under the trolley, before flipping forward and catching the board between his feet, and landing with a little stumble. Drum skidded himself to a stop and pumped his fists in the air, even if there was no one to see him...he was proud of himself.  
  
~~~~~  
  
Farther down the slope, aided by another flashlight helmet, two other boarders were gliding along the peak. Griff held Yuri's hand as they both trekked along on their boards.  
  
"So...why exactly did you change so much?" Yuri asked him, still not able to look him in the eyes since their earlier encounter. Griff shrugged it off and made sure to keep his head forward so the trail was still lit.  
  
"I felt like it was time for a change, I was bored being the same old Griff..." He shrugged.  
  
"What was wrong with the old Griff?" She asked, still looking at him.  
  
"I got tired of everyone coining me off as the 'cute little kid of SSX'. I wanted people to see there was more to me than just being young..." Griff turned the flashlight off; they were approaching the end of the trail. Yuri looked at him, still confused.  
  
"But I thought you liked being the youngest one on the circuit?" she asked.  
  
"I did like it for a little, but then that's all people expected of me. Id say something cute, blow everyone away on the slopes and that would be it. Don't you get tired of having people always expecting you to perform a certain way?" He skidded to a stop and looked her in the eyes. Yuri shuffled around for an answer, not sure what to say.  
  
"Yeah, well...if you didn't want people to make you perform a certain way...why did you even agree to join SSX?" she stared back into his eyes. Griff didn't have an answer for this question; he instead pecked her on the cheek, leaving another black lipstick smear. He turned around towards the trolley when—  
  
"Wait...Griff,"  
  
Griff turned around found himself staring at Yuri once again.  
  
Yuri walked up to him slowly and threw her arms around his neck, burying her face into his chest. It was amazing how she felt so much younger than him...how she felt so weak without him even though she was the older one. It was amazing how he had grown to be taller than her, too.  
  
Griff couldn't help but grin as he wrapped his arms around her and stoked her hair. "For once, you took off that damn bucket hat,"  
  
Yuri blushed and pulled herself away. "And for once, I didn't get any of your make-up on me from hugging you,"  
  
Griff grinned. Hesitantly, he moved forward and brushed his lips across hers. The two closed their eyes, letting the moment escape as the snow slowly fell around them. It was far different from their first kiss in the lodge. This kiss seemed to be...more innocent. Sweeter. And to Yuri, that was truly her first kiss.  
  
"Yuri..." Griff murmured, his hands on her hips, "I think I love you..."  
  
Heat rose up in Yuri's cheeks as she stared at him, astonished at what she just heard.  
  
"Griff...I...."  
  
"Ill see you at the lodge, okay?" he turned around and got on the ski lift, knowing Yuri still wanted to practice.  
  
"Hey...Yuri" Griff said as he boarded the lift, looking at her back as she stared at him. "...Be careful..." He whispered and closed the door.  
  
As the lift went along, passing over the mountain, Griff looked at the single pole that sat in the center of it. He looked around, as if he were checking to see if anyone could possibly see him.  
  
"....Eh, what the hell." Griff stood up, wrapped his arms around the pole and began to spin round it.  
  
~~~~  
  
Back at the lodge, Allegra was relaxing in the hot tub in the back area. She had her hair down and her head tilted back, not wanting to be disturbed. She sat up at the sound of the door opening, her black tank top floating on the water's surface.  
  
"..God, what do you want now?" she sighed and eyed Viggo, who was walking in with a towel over his shoulder.  
  
"What? I can't come chill in the hot tub with you like the good old days?" he asked, dipping a foot in to test the temperature.  
  
"I guess so...just...keep your hormones under control in here, sheesh. You and Jean act like two schoolboys when you are around me." She closed her eyes, leaning back.  
  
"Jean? You mean JP? Bah. The boy band knock off is just trying to add another notch to his belt...I've hear stories about him." Viggo grunted, reaching under the water and taking Allegra's foot in his hand.  
  
Allegra jumped at his touch and looked at him with surprise.  
  
"What in the hell are you doing, Vigs?" she asked, sitting up once again.  
  
"Just a foot rub, you know to apologize for earlier today." Viggo winked and gave a small smile.  
  
"Fine...just...don't try anything okay?" she leaned back once again, letting him rub her foot gently. Viggo just let his hands do the work, rubbing over each part of her foot, givin her a grade A massage, for free!  
  
Allegra didn't want to show that she was actually enjoying it, but before she finally broke down, the door opened again.  
  
"What is zes? Am I interrupting something?" JP grinned, knowing full well what he was doing. Viggo, on the other hand, looked reading to leap out of the water and pummel him in the head. JP walked over and stepped into the tub, right in between Viggo and Allegra.  
  
"So? Nice race today, eh?" JP smiled ear to ear, knowing he just ruined Viggo's chance of getting a little bit closer with his riding partner.  
  
Viggo spoke through gritted teeth. "Just...fine...I would of won if it wasn't for your distractions..."  
  
"Moi?" JP asked innocently, all the moment running his hand up Allegra's thigh.  
  
Allegra jumped and swung her hand at JP's face, giving him a quick slap in the face.  
  
"Back off!" she shouted.  
  
JP looked hurt, Viggo looked delighted. Allegra stood up and flips her hair back.  
  
"God, you're such a goddamn pig!" she kicked water up at JP, and stormed out of the room.  
  
JP smiled at Viggo, who was looking confused now. "Dude, you just pretty much ruined your chances with her for the rest of your natural life, why are you so happy?" Viggo asked, standing up and toweling off.  
  
"It is all part of ze plan...All part of ze plan." JP smiled again and leaned back in the tub.  
  
~~~~~  
  
Yuri frowned as she looked down at the course before her.  
  
Happiness.  
  
It held so many good memories, and yet so many bad memories. When she had first soared down the slopes in a "Newbies VS. The Vets" race and when she had failed to reclaim her throne, which she lost to Griff the previous circuit.  
  
Griff.  
  
The only reason she had continued to practice this late at night was due to Psymon. Psymon and his goddamn pestering...  
  
Why couldn't he just leave her alone?  
  
She sighed miserably as she recalled the Psymon she knew from last circuit. He had been really nice to her, befriended her almost, and yet...this year he was treating her a lot differently. The Psymon she thought she knew was very different. He was quiet and tactic...  
  
Yuri shook her head in disapproval as she prepared to take off, but something stopped her.  
  
A hand.  
  
Yuri almost screamed at the top of her lungs until she heard Moby whisper, "Sh, it's jus' me, love,"  
  
"Moby!?" Yuri let out a sigh of relief. "What are you doing here!?"  
  
"Lettin' off some steam..." he mumbled, his eyes downcast.  
  
"What's wrong? Did something happen?"  
  
Moby shook his head, "Nah...you wouldn't wanna hear of it...what with your relationship with Griff and all..." he managed a wink, "I dun wanna add more stress to yer life,"  
  
"Try me," Yuri smirked as she placed a hand on each hip. "I've had more stress in my life than you'll ever now,"  
  
"Ah, yes...you are a teenager, after all, eh?"  
  
"C'mon, just tell me what happened," Yuri pleaded, whining slightly.  
  
Moby frowned and flung his board over his shoulder. "Whatcha doin here in Happiness, eh?"  
  
"Reliving memories..." Yuri mumbled, her eyes downcast.  
  
"What's eating you?"  
  
"Griff..."  
  
Moby raised and eyebrow, "That buggah? What happened?"  
  
"Nothing. I just...really care for him, you know? He's such a sweetheart...and I don't care what anyone says about his new look. I love him, Mobes. He's like...a drug,"  
  
Moby only grinned and chuckled, "The good ol' days, eh?"  
  
"So," Yuri said quickly, changing the subject, "How are things with you and Zoe, huh?"  
  
Moby didn't respond.  
  
"Mobes?"  
  
"Zoe...and I...had a little bit of a fight."  
  
"What?" Yuri stared at him in horror, "What happened? What are you talking about?"  
  
"It's Drum's fault."  
  
"Drum?"  
  
Moby nodded, "That bastard of a newbie..."  
  
Yuri looked a little taken aback, but otherwise frowned, "Mobes, what are you talking about? What could a newbie have done to—"  
  
"A newbie," Moby said slowly, his voice quivering with anger, "Is just my problem."  
  
"I don't understand..."  
  
"She dumped me, Yuri,"  
  
"Because of Drum!?" Yuri gasped, "I can't believe Zoe!"  
  
Moby smirked, "Well...I know you and Zoe don't actually get along, now, love, but—"  
  
"Get along?" Yuri blinked blankly, "Moby, she hates me!"  
  
"I know, I know," Moby said, putting a hand on her shoulder, "I'm just gonna let off some steam,"  
  
"I can't belive Zoe! The nerve of her!" Yuri growled, "She's always been so mean and so determined to be separated from the rest of us! Can't she just grow up!?"  
  
"Ey, love, it's not Zoe's fault. She doesn't know what she's talking about. It's all Drum's fault," Moby muttered darkly.  
  
"Moby," Yuri murmured, "Just don't do anything drastic, okay? It doesn't take a genius to figure out you and the newbie don't exactly love each other..."  
  
Moby managed a half smile and nodded, "You get to practicing, girlie! I want to make sure this Griff buggah hasn't got you wrapped around his pinkie, eh?" He avoided talk of Drum. He didn't want to make any promises to Yuri he wouldn't be able to keep...  
  
Yuri giggled, "Moby, Griff may look tough, but compared to me, he's nothing!"  
  
"Sure, sure," Moby grinned, "Just don't stay up late,"  
  
"Okay,"  
  
"You sleep well, alright?" Moby nodded to Yuri as he sped off down Happiness, his mind wasn't really clear at all. There was only one thing on his mind. Zoe. He really did love her, even if it didn't seem like it. He couldn't believe that she had just dumped him; he knows it was his fault, but to put his mind as ease, he needed someone to blame. He did a quick tail grab over a small hill as his eyes set upon the one person whom he knew he could blame...  
  
~~~~~  
  
Drum was just peeling into the end point of Happiness, fresh powder and snow still in his face. He didn't see Moby quickly approaching as he pulled his feet out of his bindings.  
  
"Oi! Tubby!" Moby yelled, waving his hands wildly at Drum. Drum looked over, and silently cursed, he was in such a good mood...he didn't want it ruined by the likes of Moby.  
  
"What do you want?" Drum mumbled, slinging his board over his shoulder.  
  
"I wanted to tell you that you might as well not go back to the lodge!" Moby said, walking up to him.  
  
"Why is that?" Drum looked at him, somewhat worried.  
  
"I just lost me girlfriend because of you." Moby growled.  
  
"What the hell are you talking about?" Drum raised an eyebrow, Moby looked at him and gritted his teeth.  
  
"Zoe got fed up with all you goddamn newbs, and she took out her anger on me!" Moby yelled.  
  
"What do you mean all of us newbs? I'm the only one!" Drum said, confused.  
  
"They way she sees it, if you weren't here for the first circuit, you are a newbie!" Moby said, clenching his fists.  
  
"So, wait, how does this make it my fault? I haven't said anything to any of you. If Zoe broke up with you, it might be because you're a cocky asshole." Drum turned his back on Moby, Moby leapt up and tried to push Drum down. Drum didn't even stumble as Moby's hands just bounced off of his back. Drum turned around and looked down at Moby.  
  
"Listen, I don't know what the hell I did to you, but you have been on my back since I got here. Give it a damn rest." Drum growled at him. Moby didn't say a word, he just swung and landed a hard hit on Drum's chest. Before Drum could move his arm to take a swing a Moby, both of their M- Comms beeped.  
  
"You two! Stop it right now!" Rahzel's voiced boomed from the M-Comms. "Don't think just because I'm not right next to you I cant see everything that happens on this mountain! Both of you, back to the Lodge, and Jones, for that little outburst you are suspended from your race tomorrow." He spoke, and then hung up.  
  
Moby looked positively pissed.  
  
"So you cost me my girlfriend...and a race? This isn't ova, tubby." he said to him coldly.  
  
"I'm not interesting in fighting you, Moby. Especially over something that isn't my fault." Drum said, boarding the Trolley back up to the top.  
  
Moby stood there, in the cold. He knew Drum really wasn't the reason Zoe had left him...but he also knew that he didn't want to dare think it somehow could of been his own fault..  
  
~~~~~  
  
Back at the Lodge, Elise and Atomika had just arrived and looked at the Lodge TV.  
  
Atomika grinned wickedly.  
  
"Sweet, the first race is tomorrow."  
  
"Who is racing?" Elise asked, shaking the snow off.  
  
"Well, it seems: Kaori, Zoe, JP, Viggo, Drum, Moby and Mac will be the starters." Atomika answered, going through the list of names that flashed around the screen.  
  
"Wow, it should be interesting, putting the newbie against 5 vets? My money is on Mac." Elise stated.  
  
"Well, in any event, tomorrow is going to be very interesting...."  
  
"Atomika!" Elise gasped, "Look!"  
  
Atomika froze and watched the television as Moby Jones' name suddenly was wiped off the screen.  
  
Atomika and Elise both exchanged looks of dread, "What d'you think happened?"  
  
"I dunno," Atomika murmured, "but you really gotta piss Rahzel off to get kicked out of a race..."  
  
"Well...Psymon doesn't have to try that hard..."  
  
"I'm serious. What did Moby do?" 


	6. Desperate Apology

Chapter 6: From Sand to Snow.  
  
Drum: This is my first time writing a race, I hope you all like it. Parry wrote the fluff in the chapter. Chapter 7 should be out by the end of spring break.  
  
Parry: Just want to let you all know that I am still alive and kicking! Sorry I haven't reviewed, Nosymp's Angel, I've been a tad bit busy! Yuri will be updated within the week and so will Icy Paradise. Also! My birthday is this Wednesday, so all of you wish me a happy birthday! ^_^  
  
"LIVE FROM NEW YORK! IT'S MAC!" Mac yelled as he flew over Zoe's head. The race on Metro City had already begun, the racers were already well into the first heat. Mac was currently in first place, just passing over Zoe, who had left JP in a flurry of snow. Drum was just pulling up behind Atomika, who had replaced Moby in this race. Atomika coasted along, trying to keep up with Viggo who had a pretty commanding lead in front of him. As they passed the first checkpoint of stands, the crown cheered as Rahzel announced over the mic.  
  
"It seems Fraser is still in first, and Kaori is pulling up the rear in 7th place!" Rahzel yelled. In addition to the extra peaks, and new rankings, races also had seven racers at a time instead of the usual six.  
  
"Come on, Drum! Show me that you deserve to be here!" Atomika shouted at Drum as he took a small jump. Drum who was beginning to get a feel for the snow took one of the larger jumps. Atomika landed ankle deep in the powder, coming to a near halt.  
  
"SHIT!" He yelled as Drum sped passed him. Kaori wasn't having as much of good race, she had a bad start and a bad fall at the beginning and wasn't able to recover from it, Viggo wasn't fairing well either...a cheap shot from JP made sure of that.  
  
"Damn it! It's pretty much useless now, Kaori!" Viggo yelled from in front of her, dodging a snowed in car.  
  
"Don't say that! We can still make it! Atomika is only a little ways ahead!" Kaori screamed, she wasn't paying attention to the slope and was heading straight into a plate glass shortcut.  
  
As she crashed into the glass, breaking through it, she slid down almost a straight down slope, trying her best to dodge street signs and other obstacles. Viggo sighed. "I guess your right, Kaori! Come on! Lets turn it up! ....Kaori? ...Kaori?" He turned around to see if she had fallen, but instead saw nothing. "Wha—whatever." Viggo turned around just in time to slam head first into a tree.  
  
Back at the front of the pack, Mac still held onto his lead. Making sure Zoe didn't pass him; Mac used a series of hard turns to keep a constant spray of snow and ice flying back at her.  
  
JP was so close that the tip of his board was touching the end of hers.  
  
"Back off Frenchie!" She yelled at him, JP ignored her and tried to tip her board again. Zoe responded with a well placed skid to the side, stopping her board, but causing JP to trip over hers. She resumed her race, nodding at JP as he brushed snow off of his face. "Next time I give you a warning, you better take it!" she yelled at him, taking a small jump, doing a 180 stalefish.  
  
Before JP could get onto his board, Drum skid passed him, giving him a fresh new layer of snow to brush.  
  
"Oi vey..." JP said as he stood up. "Two places lost..." He mumbled.  
  
"MAKE THAT THREEEEEEE!!!" Kaori screamed, flying seemingly from nowhere over head, holding onto her board for dear life as she pulled a "Superman" trick. Landing a couple of feet in front of JP, she pressed forward.  
  
"Oh, no you don't!" JP yelled, trying desperately to keep up with her.  
  
Atomika and Viggo were neck and neck, competing for the worst position.  
  
"Let...me...PASS!" Viggo yelled, sporting a lump on his head and a little blood trickle, still trying to pass Atomika.  
  
"No way!" Atomika took a grind on a rail, extending his lead even further.  
  
"It seems Mac will be taking first, unless Zoe has something to say about it!" Rahzel yelled over the microphone, the crowed cheered as Mac slid across the finish line, he turned around hoping that Kaori would be behind him, he hadn't seen her all race.  
  
Zoe and Drum were battling for the second place; Drum was ahead of her now, only be a little, he couldn't believe he was performing this well.  
  
"Come on! Zoe! Step it up a notch!" He yelled as playfully to her as she did him yesterday, but today, Zoe wasn't in the mind frame nor mood to play games. She leaned into the straight away, coming right up next to Drum.  
  
"I am NOT losing to a newbie..." Zoe flung her hand at Drum's face, not knocking him over, but hitting him in the face hard enough to break his concentration. Drums lead faltered to Zoe and she sped passed him, barreling over the finish line. Drum followed up behind her, his face stung from her slap, but he was more worried about what Moby said yesterday.  
  
Had their break up really been his fault? Zoe's slap didn't really help matters, now he actually believed that he could very well be the cause of the break up of one of the most popular SSX relationships. Zoe didn't even stick around for the rest of the riders; instead she took off her board and headed into the next trolley back to the Lodge. Kaori soared over the finish line, happy that she didn't finish in last, next was JP looking very disappointed in his performance.  
  
Atomika came in next, followed by a very light headed Viggo.  
  
"Well! There you have it folks! Mac Fraser, Zoe Payne, and Jordan Williams will move onto Heat 2! Be here tomorrow to see the race action!"  
  
Drum looked at the crowed, even though that were cheering Mac's name. He couldn't help to think that somewhere, someone was cheering his name as well.  
  
~~~~  
  
As the racers returned to the lodge, Mac and the others were greeted with the usual applause, Zoe was nowhere to be found.  
  
"She went back to her room as soon as she got through the door" Nate stated, as he shook Mac's hand.  
  
"Good race." he said, Mac thanked them and looked around for Kaori.  
  
Drum had set his board to the side, plopping on the couch where Kaori had sat down.  
  
"........Nice race...Kaori, is it?" He looked over at her, brushing his hair out of his face.  
  
Kaori, still a little pink from the cold looked over.  
  
"Um...hai...I didn't do so well..."  
  
"Eh...you did fine to me..." he sighed, tilting his head back.  
  
"....Drum?" Kaori said, looking at him oddly, and taking a cup of hot cocoa from Mac. She stood up so Mac could sit down, and then resumed her place on his lap.  
  
Mac looked over at Drum, who didn't want to stare.  
  
"Nice race, man" Mac nodded, taking a sip of his own cocoa.  
  
"Um...yeah...you too." Drum responded. He began to takeoff his gloves when Kaori began to ask him some questions.  
  
"Drum" - she asked - "How exactly did Atomika find you?"  
  
Mac listened; he wanted to know this too.  
  
"Well, I sent in a tape of me sand boarding. I guess it was good enough for Atomika to fly down to Florida and check me out for himself." Drum nodded. "I didn't think I was going to get in...you know...not being used to snow and all..."  
  
Kaori smiled "I think he picked the right choice, you certainly have gotten used to the snow so far." Mac nodded in agreement.  
  
"If you say so, Athena said that cold wasn't going to be terribly bad, but I think she was wrong...I'm freezing my toes off up here..." Drum said, standing up to stretch.  
  
"Who's Athena?" Mac asked, looking up at him. "Oh, she is my daughter...sort of."  
  
Kaori and Mac's eyes both widened.  
  
Kaori blinked. "Daughter?"  
  
Drum realized that they had misunderstood his statement and chuckled.  
  
"No, she isn't my real daughter. She is my little cousin. But she looks up to me like a father. So I refer to her as my daughter sometimes."  
  
Kaori sighed a breath of relief; Mac smirked.  
  
"Well, you gave Zoe a run for her money, dawg. That ain't something most people can do."  
  
Drum blinked and looked at Mac oddly.  
  
"What?" Mac said.  
  
"Its odd....your more black than I am..." Drum managed a chuckle, Mac on the other hand took it as a complement.  
  
"See ya later, Drum" Mac said as Drum walked away towards the kitchen.  
  
Kaori turned to face Mac.  
  
"You won, Mackie?"  
  
Mac nodded, setting his cup down.  
  
"It was easy, Metro City was the same as last year, and I know the run by heart." he said, smirking at her.  
  
Kaori frowned as she looked at his cockiness.  
  
"I don't know the run well...I hate that course...I did so bad today." she rested her head on Mac's shoulder, Mac nuzzled his head to hers.  
  
"You did fine babe, you just need to get a feel for the mountain..." he whispered.  
  
He closed his eyes as he felt a slender hand on his chest, softly rubbing his muscular form.  
  
He smiled contently, as he reached to grab her hand into his, kissing the palm. His heart beating his regular beating, and he could now know that she could feel the temptation rising inside. Opening his eyes now, he fixed his eyes into her chocolate ones, both facial expressions that wore of joy and happiness. She smiled at him, reaching out to cup his face, pressing a soft- light kiss on his lips.  
  
He touched her other hand that remained frozen upon his face as he nuzzled her nose with his, lovingly. Creating a soft giggle coming from her.  
  
"You're number one to me," he told her, kissing her nose. Her hair coming loose, spreading around wildly around her face. But he fixed all that, as he began to brush away the few strands away, placing them behind her ear. She wrapped her hands around his neck as she began to smile as he pulled her closer and rested his head on her shoulder and sighed contently. "I love you, Kaori,"  
  
"And I love you, Mackie..."  
  
~~~  
  
Upstairs, Nate, Atomika and Elise were watching today's race.  
  
Nate was on the edge of the seat, watching how Mac was using the flurry of snow  
  
"Smart move..." Nate commented, Elise sitting between them.  
  
"Yeah, If you can't see, you can't race." Atomika said, eyes locked on the tape. Elise looked positively bored.  
  
"Yeah...I guess..." Elise looked around the room, not really paying attention to the video.  
  
Nate clapped as Kaori flew over JP's head.  
  
"Nice trick! I have to ask her where she found that shortcut.."  
  
Elise stood up, taking off her jacket, she was only wearing a tank top under it. Nate and Atomika didn't even look up at her. Elise plopped down between them, sighing.  
  
The video ended, and Nate turned to Elise.  
  
"So, did you like the race? It seems you were right when you said Mac was going to win...Elise...Elise?"  
  
Elise had fell asleep on the couch, Atomika was looking over character profiles on his M-Comm. Nate shook her gently, "Elise...yo...Elise...wake—" -Elise now slumped to the side, her head landing on Nate's lap – "—up.."  
  
Atomika looked over and saw the sight.  
  
"Heey...whoa, you want me to leave you two alone?" he looked, wide eyed.  
  
"It's not like that...she fell asleep...come on, its Elise man." Nate told him, lifting her up a bit.  
  
"Hey, whatever, just don't push her my" - Elise's hand now rested on Atomika's lap – "..Oh gosh.." Atomika blushed slightly.  
  
Nate couldn't help but to chuckle at the scene. He then got up, trying to help Elise off of the couch to take her in her room, the position the three of them were in was not at all suitable for the situation.  
  
Atomika and Nate's eye both widened in horror as the door opened.  
  
Eddie stood there...jaw hanging.  
  
Nate and Atomika exchanged glances, but before either of them could say I word-  
  
"Just...dont...tell me anything...I'll go...you know...burn this image from my mind.." Eddie said, rubbing the bridge of his nose and closing the door.  
  
"God, this girl is one hard sleeper!" Atomika yelled, they had finally set Elise back up on the couch.  
  
"I'm gonna go ahead and get outta here before the whole circut thinks we were doing the hanky panky in the vid room." Nate got up and headed towards his room, Atomika was soon after. Elise was still laying on the couch..  
  
"...........Damn it!" Elise woke up and stood. "Gentlemen! I had to crush on the GENTLEMEN! Not even a kiss goodnight, or a peck on the cheek, they didnt even steal a peek!" Elise yelled at no one, disappointed about Atomika and Nate's good behavior.  
  
Elise plopped back down on the couch.  
  
"Gentlemen....grr." She mumbled one last time.  
  
~~~~  
  
As Kaori walked into her room, she tried to be as queit as possible. Zoe had already closed her curtain divider, and had her music on.  
  
On Yuri's bed, sat Griff and Yuri. Kaori smiled at her friend and her new boyfriend, Griff was relaxing on her bed, playing a game on his M-Comm, while Yuri was laying next to him, her head resting on his shoulder as she watched him.  
  
"Hey Kaori..." Griff absent mindedly said, not taking his eyes off of the game.  
  
Yuri offered a weak wave in Kaori's direction. Kaori decided it would be better if she came back to her room later, so she turned around and headed towards the Kitchen.  
  
"So what were you saying about last night?"  
  
"Well, I ran into Mr. Moby Jones himself," Yuri said quietly, making sure Zoe didn't hear her.  
  
"Really? What happened?" Griff sat up and stared at her after shutting off his M-Comm.  
  
"He was a bit—um—angry,"  
  
"Angry?" Griff raised an eyebrow and grinned, "Moby? Just angry? C'mon, Yuri, everyone's talking about Zoe and Moby,"  
  
"Shhh!" Yuri clamped her hand over Griff's and glared at him, "Zoe's over there,"  
  
Griff shrugged and turned his M-Comm on again, checking his messages. "So what exactly happened?"  
  
"Nothing, I guess," Yuri said, "I'm just worried about him. You know...no one's seen him since yesterday. I hope something didn't happen to him,"  
  
***  
  
In the kitchen, Psymon, Mac, Viggo, and Allegra were all sitting at the table. Kaori pulled up a seat next to Mac and listened in on the conversation.  
  
"Psssh. I can beat that.." Mac stated. "One time, when I was like...10 I think, I was learning to skate board for the first time, and I fell off going downhill. 18 stitches and a week out of school." Mac looked proud of himself, they were obviously trading battle tales.  
  
"Nothin, during the off season I decided to take my old sled out, I hit a pretty steep jump and ran right into some power lines!" Psymon cackled, and began imitating the shocking sensation he had received.  
  
"So, what's so bad about that?" Viggo asked.  
  
"...it was raining" Psymon added.  
  
Viggo and Mac eyed each other.  
  
"You win" they both said simultaneously.  
  
Allegra was sitting next to Viggo, dipping a rag in a bowl of cold water and wiping away some of the blood still on his forehead.  
  
"God, if you keep hitting those goddamn trees, you won't even remember you own name, Vig." she muttered, dipping the cloth in the water.  
  
"Well, if you keep babying him every time he gets a little bump on the noggin, he is never going to want to leave the lodge" Psymon spat, Allegra instantly dropped the rag in the water and glared at Psymon.  
  
"I'm not babying him! Just taking care of my riding partner, isn't that something YOU should be doing? Or did Zoe just happen to break up with you as well?" She said coolly to Psymon. Mac and Kaori decided they had best not put their two cents into this argument.  
  
"Nah, Zoe is a tough chick. I betcha by tomorrow she will have forgotten all about Brit Boy." Psymon shrugged.  
  
"I don't know what she even saw on him, honestly. The guy is a bigger asshole than you, Psymon." Mac spoke up, Kaori would of said that no one could be a bigger asshole than Psymon, but Allegra cut her off.  
  
"Maybe it was the accent?" she said, taking a sip of her soda.  
  
"Nah, That accent always sounded a little fake to me.." Mac said.  
  
"Speaking of fake.." Viggo muttered, then nodded in the direction of JP, who was approaching the table.  
  
JP was walking towards them, his shades actually off for once. Allegra seemed to ignore him as he opened the fridge.  
  
"Yo, JP. Whaddup?" Mac asked, breaking the silence.  
  
"Nothing...just trying to carbo load for ze challenge" JP said, not looking up from the fridge.  
  
All of the riders at the table looked at each other akwardly. They knew nothing of a challenge.  
  
"What are you talkin about, Frenchie?" Psymon snorted.  
  
JP smiled and winked. "Check your M-Comm.."  
  
The riders looked at their M-Comms, Allegra stared at her blankly, her jaw hanging open.  
  
"I.." Kaori said, "..don't see anything."  
  
"I do.." Allegra muttered.  
  
Viggo looked up at her. "Well?"  
  
"...JP are you mad!?" Allegra yelled. "Where do you get off challenging me to a God Challenge!?" she yelled. Viggo spewed his water all over the table.  
  
"HE WHAT!?" Viggo yelled as well. Allegra was standing looking at JP with rage.  
  
JP just smiled coolly.  
  
"You don't have to accept if you don't want eet.." he said and headed back to his room.  
  
Allegra stared at her M-Comm. Looking at it she read it out loud.  
  
"I am sorry for the other night...to make it up to you...I am risking my Snow God status to you. If you accept, meet me at the top of Blizzard Pass tomorrow....signed JP Aresnault."  
  
JP smiled again, winking at Allegra.  
  
"JP..I--" she started.  
  
"No!" JP interrupted her. "Don't give me your answer here, tell me by your actions tomorrow...I'll be waiting."  
  
JP walked off to his room.  
  
The whole table locked onto Allegra.  
  
"...Are you going to accept?" Kaori whispered.  
  
"JP must be crazy! If he loses Allegra gets his status!" Mac chimed in.  
  
Allegra just looked at the M-Comm and flopped down into the chair.  
  
"..I don't know yet..." she stated calmly not blinking. Viggo scoffed.  
  
"He is probably doing it to get into your pants, you know.."  
  
Allegra nodded. "Yeah...I know.."  
  
Allegra got up and headed into the hallway...soon as she was out of sight of the group, she turned a deep shade of red.  
  
"...and I think it might work..." a small smile crawled across her face. 


	7. Breakdown

AN: Drum: Hey hey, this is the first chapter with a Snow God challenge. I hope you enjoy the outcome of it..and I know some of you might want to kill me after this. Yeah yeah, Yuri and Drum are the OC's of the story, but it dosent mean all of the focus has to be on them every chapter. Most of you are going to stab me, but its all good!  
  
Oh, and a little reminder for anyone that hasnt seen my comment in the reviews. This story is Drum -and- Parry's. Emphasis on -and-. You see, Ive been seeing alot of people refer to this story as soley Parry's or like asking her not to do certain things. So far, Parry has only written Chapter 4 in the story, other than that she serves as my idea helper and proofreader...but pretty much the base idea(s) are come up by me. This isnt taking anything away from Parry, she is great. But I would really appreciate it if you all refer to it as Drum -and- Parry's story. Thank you.  
  
parry: I'm making a new story. A new OC. Look for it.  
  
Chapter 7: Breakdown  
  
Drum had just woken up, stumbling down the lodge hallway to his rest room. Mac and Drum's room had to be the only one that didn't have a functional rest room, so they had to use the main one in the hallway. As he walked by Kaori, Zoe, and Yuri's room he noticed that the door was slightly cracked...and someone was crying inside. Drum knew whatever was going on probably wasn't his business, but he couldn't help to find out who exactly was crying. Drum peeked in the crack of the door, from there he could see that Kaori's bed and Yuri's bed were both empty...but a curtain was still drawn around Zoe's bed.  
  
Drum could make out the shadow of Zoe sitting on the edge of it, and he knew then where the crying was coming from. As Drum moved away, he accidentally bumped into the door, making a loud creak. At this, Zoe shot up like a rocket demanding to know who was there.  
  
"Who's there!? Who is the sick bitch who wants to watch!?" she screamed, her voice hoarse. She pulled back the curtain to see that no one was there; Drum had already walked down the hallway, not wanting to anger her.  
  
Zoe calmly peeked her head out of the door, she had a Big Air competition today...she had to perform for her fans...and let the other riders know that she was still the same Zoe.  
  
Drum splashed some water on his face. He was afraid, not of the riders, not of the races, but of himself. He honestly believed that he might of been the single cause of Zoe and Moby's horrific break up. Moby had finally come back to the lodge, but he only let the world know he was still alive when he came out to get something to eat. What made it worse was that today he had a competition...Moby and Zoe both at the same place at the same time since their break up, it wasn't going to be pretty at all.  
  
~~~  
  
Up atop Blizzard Pass, a new run created by the SSX Council, JP awaited. He stood next to his board, and a make shift starting line he drew in the snow. He had his usual cocky smile on his face...he was near 100% sure that Allegra was going to accept...and he was right on the money.  
  
Allegra slid down the peak, heading for JP...behind her was a very worried looking Viggo. JP jumped as he saw Viggo, his smug face quickly turned to anger.  
  
"What is he doing here!?" JP demanded.  
  
Allegra coasted to a stop in front of him.  
  
"You didn't say anything about coming alone, Jean." she stated calmly, her hair was tied back and she was actually wearing racing goggles, she was ready for whatever JP was going to throw at her. Viggo on the other hand looked like a one mad cheer squad; he had an Allegra sign under his arm and was riding on one of her boards.  
  
"Can't a guy come for moral support?" Viggo said as he tried desperately to appear to be angry and yet very satisfied at the same time. Despite this being the sweetest payback for him, he didn't want Allegra being so close with JP without his supervision...  
  
JP hadn't planned for Allegra to bring anyone...he silently cursed at himself.  
  
"So, what's the challenge?" Allegra spat impatiently. JP managed a smile and looked over Blizzard Pass. Viggo decided this was the time to back off and let them have their room.  
  
"Zes....is Blizzard Pass...more jumps than any of ze courses this year." JP said. Allegra looked at all of the small hills and ramps, she did notice one particularly long gap, her mouthed watered just thinking about jumping that.  
  
"So what, we're going to race down that?" Viggo said quickly, cutting JP off.  
  
JP glared at him. "WE" -he motioned to himself and Allegra- "are going to do an event from my days of the SSX Tricky tour..."  
  
Viggo and Allegra gave each other odd looks.  
  
JP just smirked and winked. "Show off."  
  
Allegra and Viggo exchanged glances.  
  
"Who's a showoff?" Allegra asked.  
  
"Me?" Viggo said, pointing at him self.  
  
JP sighed and put his palm on his forehead. "No, no, no! Showoff is an event from ze Tricky Tour. It is where riders race down a race track and attempt to do as many tricks as possible". JP got onto his board. "You have to score more trick points than me AND beat me in ze race..."  
  
Allegra looked at the course, it had seemed easy enough for her to handle.  
  
JP looked back at her and smiled. "Rahzel has this challenge linked to our M-Comms, we will be able to check the scores afterwards" JP nodded, and took a ready position.  
  
Since Viggo was already there, he found it fitting to count them off. "READY...SET....GO!" Viggo yelled at them as they took of, he hung back a bit...the only way he could actually watch the race was to follow them, but he didn't want to be too close to them, he didn't want to interfere. JP sped in front of Allegra, he already knew this course like the back of his hand, and he had been practicing it since he got to the mountain. JP took a small jump over a little hill performing a backside 360. Allegra took the same jump, only doing a small front flip.  
  
Allegra kneeled farther, trying to pass JP up. She and JP both know in order for her to win, she had to get a good lead -then- try to do her tricks. However, this plan wasn't working well, JP knew her tactics and was already head of her. Allegra shifted to the side and jumped onto a fallen tree, she tried her best to keep her balance as she slid along it, quickly catching up to JP....then passing him completely. She smiled to herself as she slid off of her log. She lowered her body, trying to make herself as flat as she can with her board for optimum speed. JP didn't attempt to catch up; instead he took another jump, flinging his board in front of him as he grabbed it by the nose, executing a perfect "Superman". Allegra didn't even bother looking back, she knew she had the lead and now she needed to do some tricks. Viggo looked down at his M-Comm, JP was ahead by over 5000 points. Allegra looked to side to see the long jump she saw from earlier, she knew this jump would easily put her over the top score wise, so she went for it. JP, however, didn't go for the jump...he knew something she didn't, instead he veered off of the line he was on to take a smaller jump, doing a little back flip to keep his score ahead. Allegra soared off of the edge of the gap, which was deeper than she expected. She quickly kicked off her board, and stood on it with her hand, then holding her leg with the other she held the grab for as long as she can, doing her perfect trick, the Capo. She fell like a rock down the gap, pulling out of the trick just in time to land it, she knew that probably but her well over JP...then she saw a horrific site.  
  
Ahead of her, Viggo coasted passed, not even noticing her and seemingly looking for her.. "Oh no...no, no, no, no..." she slid forward only to see that JP was -way- ahead of her, her detour to take the jump allowed him to pass her, not by a little...a lot, even Viggo had passed her up...and he wasn't even in the race!  
  
Allegra skipped forward, pouring all of her body into her speed, she quickly glanced her M-Comm seeing she was still ahead in points put her heart at ease a bit...but she had to work hard if she were to catch JP before he crossed the finish line.  
  
~~~  
  
"Zoe!" Kaori yelled, Zoe had finally emerged from her room.  
  
Zoe's hair was tied in little knots on the top of her head, and she had shades on to hide her puffy eyes. "What's up, Kaori?" she yelled, smiling as Kaori gave her a small hug. Zoe had her board slung over her shoulder as she waiting for the next lift to come. Griff was sitting on the bench, Yuri resting her head on his shoulder. Zoe looked at this and a snorted. "The two little brats falling in love?" she mumbled to Kaori, who just nodded.  
  
"I think it's cute...Panda and Chibi Psymon make a good couple."  
  
Zoe shrugged and looked around, Drum was waiting with them, but he wasn't starting in today's event, he still had the second heat of the Metro race to practice for. Zoe didn't even give him a second glance as their eyes met, she just looked away. Drum shrugged it off and resumed his conversation with Mac.  
  
"So...how do you do that...720 back flip? I can't land it" Drum asked.  
  
"Balance, it's all about balance" Mac nodded sagely. He and Drum had been talking about how Drum could get better at tricks. "You just gotta know when to align your board with the snow...its easy really. I wanna know something though..." Mac looked over at Drum. "How the hell do you stay on your board when someone attempts to knock your head off?"  
  
"You mean that's not balance? Drum asked, looking at him oddly.  
  
"Nah, that's probably stability or something...you gotta teach me how to do that." Mac said.  
  
Drum shrugged. "Well, if you teach me how to balance my tricks".  
  
Mac thought about it for a second. "Cool with me."  
  
Zoe was sitting next to Kaori on the lift over; on the other side of the Heli-plane was a very grim looking Moby, she and Moby didn't even look at each other the whole way over. When she stepped onto the plane he suddenly got very interested with his M-Comm. He kept on dozing off most of the time...Yuri could tell that he didn't get much sleep.  
  
"Moby...Moby" she shook him gently.  
  
"Eh...wot...what?" Moby looked down at Yuri.  
  
Yuri frowned at him. "Are you okay?"  
  
Moby shrugged and managed a smile. "Just a lil stung love, nothing a good days worth of mountain air can't cure", He took his helmet off and ran a finger through his dreads. He looked at Yuri again and laughed. "What's that, kid?" he pointed at her neck. Yuri was wearing Griff's spiked choker around her neck, she also had on one of his wrist bands. Yuri blushed at little.  
  
"Its Griff's...he told me to wear it for good luck...I sorta like it" she smiled, looking away.  
  
Moby took the choker and slid it down her neck, and saw a dark purple mark.  
  
"And that is..?" Moby asked, looking a little worried.  
  
Yuri blushed deeper than before, quickly pulling up the necklace to hide it from him. "What do you think?" she stifled a laugh when Moby blinked in horror.  
  
"The little grommet already given ya a hickey? He sure has changed from last yea....You...just don't let him hurt you. Okay?" Moby shifted from joking from a serious tone. "Don't let anyone hurt you, okay love?" Moby looked over to Zoe, who was carrying on with her conversation.  
  
As the plane landed, the riders got off as Rahzel introduced them.  
  
"Mac Fraser, Atomika, Moby Jones, Zoe Payne, Nate Logan, Eddie Wachoski, and Yuri!" The crowd cheered as they all waved. Zoe tried her best to look her usual mood. Rahzel boomed over the intercom.  
  
"The first rider to take the jumps will be Nate Logan!", the crowd cheered in response. Nate tipped his hat and slid forward to the gate. Waiting for the count....3.....2.....1, Nate took off, taking a brief moment to jump in the air to gain a little momentum. He soared over the first jump, doing a small Fillet o' Stalefish to a late Indy, he pumped his fist in the air, his adrenaline rising as he took the second jump. He decided to show off this time, he took his board and flung it out in front of him, spinning it on his fingers.  
  
"THE SLINGER!" Rahzel yelled as Nate landed the trick near perfectly, on the third and final jump. Nate took a deep breath as he slid up the incline, at the edge of the ramp he took off, soaring over a tree and a snow light. He knew he didn't have enough air to pull off the Banger, so instead he took his board behind his back and spun sideways, Torpedoing down...too fast. The crowed gasped at Nate slammed into the powder, his board flying over the finish line.  
  
Nate slid along the snow, and looked up, his score had just plummeted, he didn't even make the qualifying score. He sunk his head and stuff up, giving the crowd and gave a thumbs up to the crowd. The crowd applauded in response, seeing that he was okay.  
  
"Its just a game...a...game..." Nate chanted to himself, fighting back his frustration as he walked off the run.  
  
"It's sad, but with Nates fall he dosent qualify for the final heat, Next up is your #1SSX rated rider, MAC FRASER!"  
  
The crowd went nuts as Mac too his position.  
  
3...  
  
2...  
  
1...  
  
Mac flew off the starting ramp, and leapt into the air....  
  
---  
  
Allegra slammed down with a thud, JP was still far ahead of her, but at least she had passed Viggo who gave her a quick tip.  
  
"Your score is higher, just win the race!" Viggo yelled at her as she streamed by, dodging every jump possible. JP knew he had this one, just one more gap and the finish line was all his, it would take a miracle for Allegra to catch up to him, or so he thought as Allegra tipped his board from behind.  
  
"HOW DID YOU!? NO!" JP yelled at her, spraying snow at her. Allegra stayed silent and came up along side him.  
  
The gap come up slowly, they had both tensed their muscles...ready for the jump.  
  
"You wont make eet!, I shall STAY a Snow God!" JP screamed at her.  
  
Allegra yelled back, "ITS OVER JEAN! ITS OVER", they both jumped, the jump was long, and high. Viggo skidded to a halt, watching them with clinched fists.  
  
"Come on, Ally...come on..." he watched her, unblinking.  
  
Allegra knew the airtime was just too much to waste, she went for a second Capo, holding it perfectly. JP had the same thought, he pulled out his best trick, the Proper Poseur 2. The scene was unreal, Viggo didn't know who to watch as they both plummeted, then JP finished his trick, before Allegra...and Viggo saw the unthinkable. JP, looked over at Allegra, his board on tight, in a perfect position to knock her out of the race...JP leaned forward...too forward...on purpose...and fell. Viggo's eyes widened as Allegra landed, passing up JP's tumbling body. Allegra soared over the finish line and fell to her knees.  
  
"I DID IT! I DID IT!!!" Allegra shouted at the top of her lungs. JP sat up, and looked back at Viggo. The Swedish phenom knew something was wrong, and then JP mouthed something to him, something that made Viggo's heart stop cold.  
  
"Its all part of ze plan...all part of ze plan" JP mouthed, then stood up and walked towards Allegra.  
  
Viggo had to tell Allegra it was a fluke, he HAD TO. Viggo couldn't take the jump, not on Allegra's board, so instead he took the long way around. Meanwhile, Allegra looked back at JP, giving him a long stare.  
  
Somehow, JP's mood went from happy to almost self loathing. JP flung his board into the snow and cursed in French. Allegra stared at him almost scared.  
  
"...Jean?" she walked over to him slowly, he turned to look at her. "Are you okay?...Its...only a title." she whispered to him, trying to calm him. JP didn't budge; he shot a glance at her and flung his glasses off.  
  
"JUST A TITLE!? This was one of ze best things to happen to me since I return! Snow God status shows that you are worth something! It shows that you are on ze top!" JP flailed his arms. "What am I now, Allegra? Can you answer that for me?" he pulled his Snow God pass off of his neck and threw it into her chest. Allegra looked down at it, frowning.  
  
"...You are a veteran...three years running." She murmured. She looked up at him, he was trying to mask his anger in the tears of defeat. "You are a winner, Jean...you can get anyone else's title...I believe in you, don't let this stop you." She looked at him harder, his expression starting to soften.  
  
JP looked back at her. "...I...I...don't know if I can..." he mumbled.  
  
She grabbed him by the shoulders and gazed at him. "I KNOW you can, Jean...I know you can.."  
  
A panting and tired Viggo finally came within sight of two shadows, he knew who they were...and he just HAD to let Allegra know the truth...but something caused him to stop dead in his tracks...something horrific...something that made his whole world crumble...  
  
JP held Allegra by the waists, kissing her deeply, Allegra deepened the kiss as the snow fell around them, then broke it to kiss his nose softly. "I told you, you're a winner..." she whispered, not letting him go.  
  
Viggo opened his mouth, but no words came out...he couldn't speak...he couldn't move...his mind was a blur and he only heard the words of JP repeating in his head...  
  
"Its all part of ze plan....all part of ze plan..." 


	8. The Defensive Offense

AN: Drum: Gasp!? Whats that sound..can it...be...an...UPDATE!? OH MY LORD IT IS! Parry wrote must of this chapter, but I did fill in some parts. Hope you all enjoy it.-----------  
  
Chapter 8  
  
"All I'm saying is that he—"  
  
"Look, Viggo, I know you're just jealous and I understand," Allegra said hastily as she leaned over and snatched her beanie Viggo had been holding, nervously fingering the hemming. "But you know...Jean is a really nice guy once you get to know him..."   
  
Viggo frowned and bit the inside of his lip. He had heard her sing this tune once before....   
  
Allegra continued collecting some of her snowboarding gear that littered her room as she briskly walked past Viggo, pulling on a couple wrist bands and grabbing a stray pair of goggles. "He really cares about me, unlike some other guys I've met."   
  
Viggo snorted involuntarily, "Oh really? Isn't that exactly what you said about Ryan?"   
  
Immediately after he had spoken those words he regretted it. He gasped, his eyes glancing anxiously from Allegra's back down to the floor, his heart hammering inside his chest.   
  
Allegra froze where she was and swirled around, fire burning in her eyes, "Viggo, I don't know what's gotten into you this season, but you're being a real jerk!" she hissed, storming out of the room and slamming the door shut, leaving Viggo standing alone beside her bed clutching one of her barrettes. His eyes were shining with such sorrow, his heart racing. What was he going to do now? JP had her now...and the worst part was that she liked him...   
  
Meanwhile, Allegra sighed and leaned against the door, her eyes closed as she tried to think clearly. Had she just yelled at Viggo? One of her best friends? Allegra frowned and ran an exhausted hand through her hair. But he was right...her relationship with Ryan was somewhat forced and also very brief...   
  
But...   
  
Allegra shook her head. No. Jean was different. He liked—loved, possibly—her. He cared for her. That's what mattered in relationships, right?   
  
 Eddie frowned as he folded his arms over his chest, eyeing Elise wearily. She was focused completely on her M-Comm, watching the Big Air competition intently.   
  
"Elise?"   
  
"Huh?" Elise asked absentmindedly, her shades slipping down the bridge of her nose as she watched footage of Nate's fall. "Oh, no..."   
  
Eddie bit his lip, silently debating whether this was the perfect time. "Elise..." he said quietly, unfolding his arms and running a hand through his afro as he stepped towards the Canadian, "I was just wondering if maybe you'd like to check out some of the cafés in Metro City? I heard there's this really nice one by—"   
  
"Yeah..." Elise nodded inattentively, "Yeah...that'd be great, Edster..."   
  
Eddie beamed, his heart lightening a bit. Maybe things would be different this year...maybe fate had let him have a second chance...   
  
"Eddie-chan!"    
  
Eddie swirled around and found himself nose to nose with a young Japanese girl, her eyes shining and cheeks glowing. He shouted out in surprise and stumbled back, his hand grabbing onto the first thing he could reach....   
  
Elise's boob.   
  
"EDDIE!" Elise bellowed, her eyes flaming, "WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM?"   
  
Psymon looked up from his board and smirked as he watched Elise explode at Eddie, who cowered in terror before her. For once, she wasn't yelling at him....   
  
"I'm trying to watch the Big Air before we start this Slopestyle! Can't you see? Atomika is up next!!" Elise growled, her teeth bared, "Look, Ed, you're my friend and all...but I just want to see this! Two seconds! Two goddamn seconds!"   
  
Eddie nodded shakily and retreated back to his board, trying his best to ignore the glare Elise was giving him. He could practically feel the hatred...   
  
"Hey," Psymon said under his breath, "Don't you know Elise never allows any boobie touching unless she's drunk? Be a little patient, tiger. Green light on ass grabbing, though. I think she likes that." Psymon laughed and winked, Elise deaf to his voice.   
  
Eddie didn't respond, he only hung his head low and continued stretching, half of his heart breaking into particles.   
  
"Eddie-chan?" Kaori approached him cautiously, unaware of the damage she had just caused, "Are you alright, Eddie?"   
  
"Just...fine..." Eddie said dully, his hand slipping on a visor comfortably on his afro, keeping his hair out of his face, "Just peachy..."   
  
Kaori put a hand on his shoulder and frowned, "I am sorry if I caused any trouble, Eddie."   
  
"No trouble at all."   
  
"Ohmigod!" Elise shrieked, "Atomika's next! Atomika's next! Atomika is going next!"   
  
Psymon snorted, "That punk? The day he shatters my old record is the day hell will freeze over."   
  
"Be quiet!" Elise hissed, "Atomika's taking over the slopes!!"    
  
Atomika beamed as he finished buckling on his board and approached the gates, his heart pouding wildly. He had no idea how demanding a crowd could be...   
  
The pressure was brutal...   
  
He glanced over his shoulder and saluted to Mac, his confidence steadily rising as the fellow DJ grinned and did the same. Determined to rank among the best, Atomika fit on his goggles and strapped on his gloves. He raised his hand to the crowd in appreciation for all their support, who roared with excitement, anxious to see the newbie prove his worth.   
  
Atomika tensed up and exhaled slowly as his arms pumped on the side bars, as if launching himself into the course. He watched the lights above intently, waiting for them to turn green.   
  
"Ready..." Atomika whispered under his breath, the sweat on his brow running down his face, "I'm ready now..."   
  
"ATOMIKA!" Mac bellowed, cupping his hands around to emphasize the newbie's name, "Show 'em what you got!"   
  
Atomika grinned broadly and nodded in Mac's direction to show his appreciation, but turned his attention back to the lights. The signal came suddenly and caught him off guard, but Atomika proceeded down the course as he cursed quietly. His speed steadily increased as he neared two ramps, quickly deciding that the smaller ramp may prove more rewarding. He knew most of these courses like that back of his hand and realized looks can be deceiving. He didn't want to take any chances on this, however. This was the real deal.   
  
He flew into the air, kicking his board back and doing a meager back flip while throwing his body weight to the left. In mid-air, he caught glimpse of a tunnel high above, carved into the mountain. Making his decision, Atomika went for it, kicking his board back into position and throwing himself towards it in a desperate attempt to reach the small opening...   
  
Surely that would rank up some points...   
  
His board touched the icy paved tunnel and suddenly, it was as if his ears had just ripped open. The crowd screamed in praise, Atomika's name chanted over in over again. Atomika smirked.    
  
Yes. He deserved this. He deserved some glory. He deserved a piece of that pie. He sped along the narrow tunnel, his knees bending as he approached the end, taking a deep breath as he prepared to take off...    
  
"Ohmigod! Ohmigod! Atomika's got it nailed!" Elise screamed, "Atomika could win this!"   
  
"Nani?" Kaori blinked and flipped out her M-comm as Eddie only rolled his eyes and continued stretching, trying his best to ignore Elise's cried of admiration as she hovered over her own M-comm.   
  
Psymon had long been spectating Eddie's predicament, realizing afro-boy had a school boy crush on the flirt. He chuckled as he slapped his hand on Eddie's back, who recoiled in fear.    
  
"Hey, hey!" Psymon said happily, "No worries! I just see that jealous look in your eyes...that's all."   
  
Eddie pulled away and grumbled something quietly.   
  
Psymon let out a laugh, "Ah...intimidation is such a great weapon..."   
  
"ATOMIKA WON!" Elise's cried of joy drowned out Eddie's cursing a million to one.   
  
The event was over, even though Atomika had one, Mac still found time to flaunt his second place win at Yuri, who took third.    
  
"Don't be sore just cause you can't touch my score!" Mac retorted, throwing his goggles onto the snow and approaching Yuri.   
  
Yuri glared at him and threw her snowboard down, their eyes locked. Griff folded his arms across his chest and glanced nervously at Nate, who shrugged. "You don't know the half of it, Mac!"   
  
"Aw, don't be sad cause you don't got skills!"   
  
"SHUT UP! JUST SHUT THE HELL UP!" Zoe roared. "You cause nothing but trouble! All you newbies! You don't do anything right, and most of you newbies are just little kids!" She grabbed Yuri's wrist, and jerked her away from Mac in an effort to separate the two.   
  
Immediately, Griff hurled himself at Zoe, who let go of Yuri's wrist in surprise. Yuri stumbled backwards into Mac, who shoved her away from him in disgust.   
  
"Keep off me!"   
  
Yuri reached back, her hand open as she slapped Mac in the face, whose left cheek began pulsing with fire. On instinct, Mac gripped Yuri's wrist and wrenched her forward, his face mere centimeters away from hers.   
  
"You touch me again, I'll be damned if you live to see another day."   
  
Zoe threw Griff off of herself in defense and prepared to lunge at him, but felt someone's stiff arms grip her shoulders and hold her back. She glanced upwards, prepared to launch a verbal assault upon the intruder, but instead bit her tongue.   
  
Drum.   
  
He was frowning somewhat, his eyes narrowed.   
  
"What's gotten into you?" Drum asked hesitantly, weary of any sparks he might start, "Did...did something happen between you and Moby? Was—"   
  
"Why don't you just mind your own goddamn business and quit rubbing your nose into mine?" Zoe hissed as she jerked away and left, walking briskly towards the lift with her snowboard under her arm. Drum watched as Atomika approached her, grinning broadly. Zoe merely stepped to the side and ignored him, who stared at her in horror as if he had just been slapped in the face. He turned round and waved at Drum, motioning towards Zoe. Drum only shrugged, not very keen onto answering any questions.   
  
"Hey, punk!"   
  
Drum looked down and raised an eyebrow when he saw Griff staring up at him, his nose scrunched up and his eyes narrowed.    
  
"I could've handled it! I had it under control, man!"   
  
"Griff!" Yuri yelled, the snow crunching under her as she padded up behind him.  
  
"Calm yourself down, Im pretty sure he didnt mean any harm, Geez" she took his hand in hers, which seemed to instantly calm him down. Yuri motioned Griff to return to the lift, she took one more look at Drum, who still didnt change the expression on his face and shook her head, she knew it would of been pointless to ask questions now. That, however didnt stop Mac.  
  
"Yo, D!" Mac yelled, trotting up behind him and slapping him on the shoulder.  
  
"D?" Mac said again, "You okay?"   
  
Drum shook out of his semi-trance and looked down at Mac, and nodded, heading towards the lift. Mac followed, his board under his arm.  
  
"I cant belive Atomika beat me, seems he was practicing." Mac tried to strike up a conversation, Drum just nodded.  
  
"Yo...You sure you okay, man?" Mac asked again, something about Drum was bothering him.  
  
"Im fine, really. Just sort of...I dont know...confused." He finally confessed, shaking his dreads out of his face as he sat down. Mac sat across from him, thinking.  
  
"Its about Zoe and Moby isnt it?", Mac mumbled."  
  
Drum jumped at his accuracy, and nodded. For some reason he seemed to trust Mac.  
  
Mac nodded.  
  
"You can tell me anything, D. Whats on your mind?" Mac said again, in a serious tone.  
  
Drum nodded and sighed.  
  
"I think thier break up was my fault, I mean...the night it happened Moby came up to Happiness and tried to take my head off, saying that Zoe was fed up with newbies, and she took her anger out on him."  
  
Mac's eyes widened. "Wait wait wait, Moby told you that!?...Dude, I was there. She dropped Moby beacuse he was moving too fast, she didnt even mention your name."  
  
Drum blinked, unsure of what he just heard.   
  
"So...what would Moby blow up at me then?...Better yet..why would Zoe blow up at me?"  
  
Mac chuckled.  
  
"I almost forget that I am talking to a newbie, Moby never likes to blame himself...and I think Zoe is just hurt, I mean...she and Moby have been buds since the first season" Mac nodded again.  
  
"Don't even think about it, man. Just enjoy your time here." Mac added as the lift landed, everyone was outside, cheering for Atomika.  
  
Drum stepped out, only to hear Moby's voice ringing over the crowd.  
  
"Its it me, or did that lift get alot lighta!?" Moby yelled, laughing.  
  
Elise rolled her eyes, and kept her arms around Atomika, she gave him a small peck on the cheek as Eddie walked back into the lodge, pulling his goggles down over his eyes.  
  
"Can't you lay off of him for just one damn day?" Zoe grumbled, holding her head. That was the first time she spoke to Moby since thier falling out.  
  
"I agree with the lady" Drum added, walking passed Moby.  
  
"No one asked your opinion" Zoe snapped at Drum, causing him to stop.  
  
Everyone fell silent, everyone watched the three of them.  
  
"What the hell did I do to you? OR you?" Drum asked harshly, starring at the both of them.  
  
Moby grinned.  
  
"You just moved in on my turf, mate."  
  
Zoe said nothing, she just shrugged.  
  
"I dont have time to deal with you right now." Zoe began to walk away, but Drum called out behind her.  
  
"And why exactly is that!? Just beacuse Im new that means im not worth your respect?" Drum yelled, obviously getting frusterated.  
  
"Thats EXACTLY what it means, Tubby." Moby snorted, bumping his shoulder into Drum.  
  
"Now why don't you go back inside? Im pretty sure the fridge is missin its best friend." Moby smiled again, this time poking Drum's stomach.  
  
Drum lost it, he balled his fist and swung at Moby's head, hitting dead on. Moby slumped back into the snow, quickly getting to his feet, a purple bump beginning to form.  
  
"HOLY SHIT!" Psymon yelled. Nate, Atomika, and Mac ran towards Drum, trying to restrain him, meanwhile a cackling Psymon held Moby back.  
  
Drum almost flung the three of them off before he heard the blow of a whistle. Rahzel stood, whistle hanging from his mouth, the expression on his face showed he was not happy at all.  
  
"WILLIAMS, JONES! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!?" Rahzel howled, looking at the group.  
  
"That bloody fatass punched me for no reason!" Moby yelled, still holding his face.  
  
Yuri and Kaori jumped.  
  
"He DID have reason, you should of never started it Moby!" Yuri yellled, taking Drum's side.  
  
"Oi, I didnt throw a single punch, did I?" Moby grunted, everyone fell silent, as much as they knew he deserved it, Moby was right, he never did hit Drum.  
  
"Is this true.....Elise?" Rahzel turned to Elise, he figured if anyone was going to tell the truth, it was going to be her.  
  
Elise just nodded.  
  
"In that case..." Rahzel sighed, pulling out his clipboard.  
  
"Drum, you are suspended from your next race." He spoke coldly, this was routine for him now.  
  
Drum jumped, "WHAT!? BUT I HAD THIRD PLACE!"   
  
Rahzel shook his head, "Not anymore you don't, you are stripped of your rank, and it will go to the runner up, Kaori." Rahzel tipped his head at her.  
  
"Oh this is just bullshit!" Drum groaned, stomping back into the Lodge, ever stood for awhile until Psymon broke the silence.  
  
"That was a nice punch" he snickered, letting go of Moby.  
  
"Yeah, it might of been, but the bloke had it commin, he cost me the place I had in my race, so I cost him his, it coms full circle" Moby grinned.  
  
Inside the lodge, Drum took off towards his room, almost tripping over Viggo who sat against the wall in the hallway, Allegra's dogtags in his hand, his hair a mess, and his face unshaven.  
  
"S-Sorry" Drum muttered, and headed into his room, slamming the door. Viggo didnt look up, he just sat against his room door, inside he could hear JP's voice, and little spurts of Allegra's they were both speaking in french, laughing loudly at eachothers jokes. Viggo held his head, if Allegra really did love JP...he didnt know what he would do...  
  
-------  
  
AN: Drum: There ya go!? Are you happy now? Well, here is some more news for you.  
  
The original "SSX: Snow Gods" was an idea by me, it was originally going to be a whopping 30 chapters, but I really didnt want to make it that big, so you all get this.  
  
"The Snow Gods Trilogy".  
  
Notice how this stories name has changed? That is just stating that this is the first part of this three part series. In later additions expect some romance, some action, some more fighting, some tear jerking moments, and even a hint of lemon!. I hope you all stick around and read this trilogy, we wont take as long as we did to update next chapter. So dont worry!  
  
Also, for you SoS(Sounds of the Snow) fans, Psymon's SOS will be updated by the weekend. Hurrah!!  
  
You know the drill, read and review. 


	9. Tension

Chapter 9: Tension  
  
The lodge was quiet; no one wanted to talk to anyone. They were all in silence as the sun rose over the peaks, sunlight shining on top the snow as the second heat of riders. Nate, Mac, Eddie, Allegra, Psymon, Kaori, Zoe, and the newly appointed Moby boarded the over.  
  
"I can't even believe Rahzel...it just doesn't seem right that Drum gets the shaft because of Moby" Mac commented, walking alongside Kaori as they boarded the plane.  
  
Kaori nodded, she agreed with Mac on nearly everything, but even on this, she knew that it was wrong.  
  
"Oi! You two still back thea whining about fatass? He broke the rules, so he needed to be punished!" Moby grunted, helping Zoe into the plane. Zoe took his hand, and for a split second remembered who it was and snatched it away, Nate gave a gruff chuckle from the background.  
  
"Seems like the two lovebirds are back together, huh?" Psymon snorted, making kissy faces at Zoe as she crossed the plane and took her seat. Mac and Kaori sat together as usual, Eddie, who had kept quiet most of the circuit sat next to Nate, giving him a distasteful stare. Nate looked over at Eddie, for the past couple of days Eddie had been giving those stares to him, never sure fo where exactly they came from.  
  
"....Yo...Edster--" Nate began.  
  
"It's Eddie, to you." Eddie snapped, looking away.  
  
"...Did I do something to upset you?" Nate blinked, not sure that he did.  
  
Eddie just looked back, watching the plane take off.  
  
"Just shut up, country boy."  
  
Nate shrugged, and gave up. He wasn't going to look to start an argument if he didn't even know what it was about. The plane began to fly, Psymon clinging to the pole by habit, he hated flying.  
  
Moby looked out the window, and laughed.  
  
"What's so funny?" Zoe grumbled, she was sitting next to Moby, but it was still obvious that she only sat there because all of the other seats were taken.  
  
"Fatass" Moby pointed down, Drum was skidding along Peak 1, obviously heading under the plane, following them, he was taking small jumps and grinding along fallen trees.  
  
Kaori squealed when she saw him, Mac gave a small yell.  
  
"He has gotten so much better! I wonder why he is following us for?" Kaori clapped.  
  
"He probably wants to see what real boarders can do.." Zoe sighed hotly, her eyes hidden behind the shades.  
  
Kaori snapped back, "He IS a real boarder!"  
  
Zoe chuckled, "No, he isn't. He is just some lucky tank who got a break when Atomika had to weed out a group of posers."  
  
Kaori started to thin her lips, "But he was the best!"  
  
Zoe shook her head, "Being the best out of a group of the worst doesn't make you the best at shit, Kaori."  
  
"Damn, what's with you are your sudden hate for newbies?" Mac spoke up, stopping Kaori from getting angry.  
  
"Theres nothing sudden about it, I was fine back in the first circuit when everyone was new, then on the tricky tour we had to get that new load of people. Messed up the chemistry everywhere. I mean, why do you think Hiro didnt come back?" Zoe nodded over at Psymon and Eddie.  
  
Psymon simply gave Zoe the finger, Eddie ignored her.  
  
"Oh, that hurt babe..." Psymon mocked pain, still clinging to the ride pole.  
  
Mac even looked sort of hurt, "You weren't like this last time, you seemed fine up until you and Moby broke it off.."  
  
Moby and Zoe both jumped, and looked at eachother. "So? People change. Maybe you should drop the bubblegum bitch over there and get a real woman, Mac."  
  
Zoe chuckled, scooting away from Moby.  
  
This wasn't the real Zoe, Zoe was mean...but she was never that mean. Kaori occupied herself by looking out of the window, hiding her tears from Mac.  
  
====  
  
"Oh come ON, the guy is a dick, Yuri" Griff mumbled, following Yuri around her room. Yuri paced back and fourth, watching the race happen.  
  
"No he isnt, he is just a little misunderstood, Griff." Yuri whispered, watching Moby take first place, after knocking down Mac, Zoe, and Kaori.  
  
"The guy has been on Drum's case since the start of the damn circuit. Hell, I don't even like Drum all too much, but I mean they didnt even treat US this bad."  
  
Griff flopped down on Yuri's bed.  
  
"I don't see why you sympathize for him, he is obviously only in this for himself." Griff moaned, bored with the whole argument.  
  
Yuri sat next to him, she was wearing one of his chain bracelets, and she played with his fingers. "I just think people are making a little bit of a big deal over him and Zoe..." Yuri sighed, setting her M-comm up on the side of the bed, laying her head on his shoulder.  
  
"Well, they WERE good couple, but he did deserve it, I mean. Just look at the both of them..."  
  
Yuri seemed to pause as she contemplated something. Then, without hesitation, she stood up and walked towards the desk, grabbing a slip of paper and began writing hastily with a mechanical pencil.  
  
"Hey..." Griff said slowly, "What're you doing?"  
  
"I'm writing to Ryan."  
  
"Ryan?"  
  
"Yeah...I just...wanna talk to someone."  
  
"You know," Griff said quietly, coming up from behind her and placing two hands on her shoulders, "I'm here,"  
  
Yuri frowned and looked down at her paper. "I know. I just...guess I wanna talk to someone else right now."  
  
====  
  
JP and Allegra sat happily in the kitchen, Allegra happily speaking to JP in French. Since they were the only two who really understood it, they adopted it as their own secret language of sorts. JP looked up and smirked as Viggo stepped in. Viggo wasn't as big of a mess as he was earlier, but something WAS wrong...his hair was still in wildly tosses, his beard was gritty and nasty, and his eyes were hung low and bloodshot. Viggo was obviously getting over a hangover.  
  
"Rough night?" JP snorted, looking over at Viggo.  
  
Viggo didn't even hear him; he rummaged around the counter and took out a loaf of bread, piling slices into his mouth. Allegra looked away at what Viggo was doing to himself. The hover plane was heard touching down outside. It seems the race was already over. Outside people could be heard cheering for Zoe; it seemed she took first place this time around, followed by Mac and Moby.  
  
Nate was the first one to set foot in the lodge, Viggo ran by, trying to get dressed and Nate wafted his hate to get rid on the smell.  
  
"Good lord, boy...what HAVE you been rolling in!?" Nate called out to Viggo as he ran by.  
  
Allegra spoke up, to JP's surprise. "He is drunk..." she looked down at her hands, even though she shouldn't feel bad, she knew it was somehow her fault.  
  
Nate nodded, and headed off towards Viggo's direction, if anybody as going to pull him out of this rut. It was going to be him.  
  
Viggo was slumped over on the side of his bed. Even though Viggo had a Slopestyle today...he didn't even look like he wanted to see a snowboard, let alone ride on one.  
  
"...Arrrgh...." Viggo moaned, pulling on a shirt. Nate kicked the door down, stomping in and looking at the sad puddle of man that was Viggo.  
  
"Damn, kid. What did you do to yourself?" Nate took off his hat, waving the smell of hard liquor away from himself.  
  
Viggo looked up at Nate, "Geddout of my room!" Viggo pointed, on eye open.  
  
Nate sighed, and promptly punched Viggo in the face, sending Viggo flying off of his bed and onto the floor. Viggo cried in pain as Mac and Atomika ran in, trying to break up the fight. Nate pushed them away, grunting to bring Viggo to his feet.  
  
"Believe me! This is for his own good!" Nate grunted, dragging Viggo outside into the snow, everyone outside watching. Nate grabbed Viggo by the collar of his shirt, taking his hand and slapping him hard across the face, sending him spiraling back into the snow face down.  
  
Psymon watched, to this the whole thing was hilarious, but to everyone else it made Nate look like a bully. "Nate, stop that!" Yuri yelled, standing behind Griff. Nate rubbed Viggo's face in the snow.  
  
"BELIEVE ME, THIS IS DOING MORE GOOD THAN BAD!", Nate yelled, making everyone stand back and watch as Viggo laid face down in the snow.  
  
Viggo twitched lightly, and then got up, his face and hair covered in snow...his hair all wet, and a nice cut forming under his eye. Nate grabbed Viggo by the collar, dragging him to his feet and pointed at the Peaks behind them.  
  
"What do you see out there?" Nate said, still pointing.  
  
Viggo stammered, and looked around, a little embarrassed.  
  
"I..I...uh...I see Big Mountain..." Viggo finally answered, looking down at his feet.  
  
Nate snapped Viggo's head back up towards the peaks, "No, you don't see Big Mountain, you see your life. This shit you are doing right now? Getting drunk and stuff over her?" He snapped his head over towards Allegra, who just turned around to go back inside, JP following her. "This stuff is just STUPID! Now. I want to repeat after me..." Nate looked Viggo in the eyes, Viggo almost tearing up.  
  
"I am a frickin' idiot." Nate said, truthfully, Moby and Psymon sniggered.  
  
Viggo shook his head, "I'm NOT an idiot...I won't say it!"  
  
Nate raises his fist, aiming to punch Viggo again, but stopped.  
  
"Good boy, now go strap on your board, you have a slope style to go win." Nate ruffled Viggo's hair, and Viggo slunk inside, everyone following afterwards.  
  
====  
  
"Look at 'em, He must think he is bettah than the rest of us" Moby scoffed, walking past Drum in the main room.  
  
Zoe shrugged, "He is just a newbie,"  
  
Drum lets the book he was reading drop, and stood up. "If either of you have something to say to me, I would rather either of you say it to my face instead of saying it behind my back."  
  
Moby laughed. "I guess we should say it to ya face, because if we say it behind ya back it well take three houas for the message to get around to ya head."  
  
Zoe cracked a smile, by this time, Drum was already accustomed to jokes from Moby, but seeing Zoe stoop so low was something he wasn't prepared for.  
  
"Okay, I have been nice to everyone on this tour since I got here, but you two seem to be snobbish enough not to like me." Drum's voice grew louder attracting the attention of Atomika.  
  
Zoe spoke up, getting in Drum's face. "There's nothing in my fucking contract that says I have to like you, I don't like you, or any of the others newbies. And there isn't shit you can do about it."  
  
Moby opened his mouth, but Drum got to speak first. "Moby, shut the fuck up, this is between me and the 'Royal Payne'", Drum spoke, stepping up to Zoe. Zoe didn't back off, waiting what Drum could possibly say. "So? Since I made it here on my own, and I don't look like the normal snowboarder I am suddenly not worthy of your respect? Is that what you are saying?" Drum spoke, trying to keep his voice calm.  
  
Moby took the hint and got out of the conversation, giving Zoe some breathing space. "No, I don't like you, I don't like your style, I don't like your moves, I don't like your tricks, and I don't like the fact that you got in here because of a free ride because Atomika felt sorry to send your fat ass back to the minor leagues where you belong!" Zoe bumped Drum away, still talking. "There isn't a goddamn thing you can do to prove to me that you belong here, all you will be is some big ass newbie who got a free ride in my eyes!" Zoe said again, ripping her shades off as if she thought Drum was going to hit her.  
  
Drum took a couple of steps away, Mac and Kaori watching from the stairwell above. Drum took in a deep breathe, sighing. "So, there's nothing I can do to prove myself?" Drum asked.  
  
"Not a goddamn thing." Zoe repeated.  
  
"Fine then...." Drum muttered, defeated, and turned around.  
  
Moby decided it was prime time for him to step back in. "A'IGHT THEA FATASS! JUST KEEP WALKING!" Moby laughed, Zoe even chuckled, she enjoyed putting a newbie in his place.  
  
Drum stopped, that was the straw that broke the camels back. Drum turned around, and made sure he didnt take his eyes off of Zoe. "Fine! If I can't win your respect, I'll take something else from you." Drum motioned.  
  
"What the hell could that be?" Zoe smirked.  
  
"I challenge you for your Snow God rank." Drum spoke, clear as a bell.  
  
Moby's face went from a smile to a gasp, Atomika dropped the cup he was holding and everyone fell silent.  
  
"...Say again?" Zoe said, not sure if she had in fact heard him correctly.  
  
"You heard me the first time, you talk all of your shit, why dont you back it up? Prove once and for all that I dont belong here. Race me." Drum spoke, knowing he had Zoe on the ropes.  
  
Griff and Yuri had chosen that time to step outside of the room, both quiet as they approached the stair rail slowly. Yuri looked down from Drum and to Moby, then down at Zoe, who just blinked in pure shock. Griff shifted his weight from one foot to the other uncomfortably, folding his arms across his chest. "Maybe...maybe now Drum will set Moby where he belongs."  
  
"I dunno," Yuri whispered to Griff only, their voices hushed so no one heard. "I think Zoe needs to be taught a lesson. She gave us hell last circuit, Griff, because we're newbies. I think it's high time somebody stood up to her."  
  
Zoe looked around, thinking that maybe someone would try to talk Drum out of it...no one spoke. Moby finally stepped up, most likely in a feeble attempt to win some points back with Zoe. "Oi, thea be no need for that. Ill take you on myself!" Moby grinned.  
  
"I dont need you fighting my battles, Moby. Contrary to what you think. We still aren't together." Zoe spat Moby reeled, his eyes squinting and he stormed off, most likely off to find his board. "You want me, newbie? You got me." Zoe stated, patting her Snow God pass.  
  
"Good. You can even name the race." Drum smiled, this was his change to prove himself.  
  
"Ill do you one better, Ill name the race, and I will even use your own board. Getting beat by me, and on your own board should be enough to keep you quiet for a long time." Zoe stated, offering her hand to shake it.  
  
Drum extended his hand, just as Zoe pulled back and give him the finger, then turned to walk away.  
  
"Ugh...that was just disgusting", Elise added, shaking her head.  
  
Eddie was just about to open his mouth right when Atomika chimed in. "Yeah, very unsportsmanlike." Atomika added. Eddie decided not even to bother, pulling his goggles over his eyes.  
  
Psymon clapped a couple of times. "Woo, tomorrows race is going to be a hoot. We have the Chocolate Pillsbury doughboy against Miss Menstrual Payne. What a fight."  
  
Everyone tried to hold back, but eventually everyone began to break into a small chuckled, even Drum.  
  
Elsewhere, after everyone was asleep, Moby was in the board storage, looking for his board...then he found something completely new. He had found Drum's snowboard. ".....Ill make sure the little grommet doesn't even make it to tha finish line..." Moby whispered, and grabbed Drum's board. He reached in his pocket and took out a small screwdriver and loosened the screws on the binding of Drum's board, and replaced it back like nothing happened. Quite pleased with himself he left the room, and headed back to his.  
  
As the door closed, someone in the storage room walked out from behind the board rack, holding his board over his shoulder, he had just saw everything Moby did, that person, was Psymon.  
  
AN:  
  
Parry: Perfect ending, wasn't it?  
  
Drum: Ooooh, intense. You know the drill, read 'n review. 


	10. Preparations

AN: Well well well, Looks like I am all alone on writing this chapter. Parry has seemd to go MIA. If she dosent re occur soon, I might just keep going without her. If that does happen, expect to see Snow Gods: Second Heat under my penname(The Drum Kero) instead of this one.  
The final few chapters of this will also be a lot shorter compared to others, so don't complain about the length.  
Oh, and just a little teaser, only four more chapters(counting this one) left!  
  
Chapter 10: Preparations.  
  
"You are really one cocky son of a bitch, you know that?" Nate coughed, looking across the table at Drum during breakfast. Drum just shrugged the comment off, he didnt need to be distracted today.  
"I mean, you are a newbie on the circuit, and you are already challenging a vet for thier title? Who do you think you are, kid?" Nate continued to speak, destined to get an answer out of him.  
"Hell if I know, I'm just trying to win respect." Drum snapped, he was obviously not in the mood for a conversation. Drum flipped his pancake to the side, and began cutting it with the side of his fork. Nate chuckled under his breath and leaned back, putting a straw into his mouth and chewing on the tip softly.  
"Respect, huh?" Nate laughed again.  
"You want respect? Showing off isnt the best way to get it in this place..that is..unless you are Fraser." Nate winked, Drum was obviously REALLY getting annoyed at this. Nate wasnt intentionally trying to throw Drum off his game, but he couldnt help to get a few ribs in on the newbie.Psymon was looking abnormally grim, sitting on his wooden stool in the living room, he was watching Zoe pace back and forth, holding Drum's board in her hand as she psyched herself up for her race. Zoe was singing a song to herself, but she was going way too fast for Psymon to even understand the lyrics. Psymon, who couldn't take the song anymore, just decided to open his mouth and let whatever he was thinking spill out.  
"Why are you being such a bitch?" Psymon blurted, even he was surprised at his bluntness.  
Zoe stopped in her tracks, craning her head to the side to look at Psymon.  
"What...?" Zoe choked out.  
"You heard me." Psymon muttered, knowing he had hit a nerve now.  
Zoe stopped, trying to drive the question out of her head. She knew the answer already, but she really didnt want to tell it to Psymon.  
"Look at you, you got your hair in a new way... shades all the time.. bitchy to everyone you come across. I mean, you even cussed out Kaori, which is something I would usually applaud ya for.. but.. it just didnt seem right. So, what the fuck are you getting at?" Psymon grinned, he always grinned when he was onto something. Zoe finally sat down, letting Drum's board fall to the ground. Psymon noticed the slight wiggle on the binding, but Zoe didn't.  
"....Moby hurt me, Psymon." Zoe grumbled.  
"I was always that girl that said she would never let a man hurt her... but.. I did. I dont want that to ever happen to me again." Zoe added.  
"So what the fuck does acting like this have to do with it?" Psymon grunted, leaning back.  
"God, you wont let me fucking drop the subject, will you?" Zoe snapped, trying to possibly scare Psymon off.  
Psymon shook his head, "You dont scare me, Payne.".  
Defeated, Zoe spoke up.  
"I fuckin' sound like Elise when I say this.. but I dont.. I dont -want- to be attractive. I dont want any of these damn snowboarders seeing me as some openly available chick. If I push everyone away, that keeps them from getting close to me... and that keeps them from hurting me." Zoe muttered darkly, really angry that Psymon had got the best of her.  
Psymon shook his head and stood up, he hadn't taken his foot off of the binding of the snowboard yet.  
"Well, you keep on pushing everyone away, you wont have anyone to help you either." Psymon began to walk off, he didnt even bother telling Zoe about what Moby did...he had other plans for that."So, you are really okay with this?" Yuri spoke softly, leaning back in one of the trolleys.  
"Yea, why wouldnt I be?" Moby chuckled, he was looking very happy despite everything that was going on.  
"Well, for starters, Zoe is about to race Drum for her status in a couple of hours. I figured you would be a little pissed." Yuri frowned a bit, she saw Griff and the others on the first heat of a race down Ruthless. Moby chuckled to himself. He looked over at his board leaning against the window of the trolley and reminded himself that Zoe had the race in the bag. "Well, I have my full faith that Zoe will win da race, love." Moby smirked. Yuri raised her eyebrows, not all too sure of what Moby was saying.  
"What do you mean she has your full faith?" Yuri blinked.  
"Well, lets just say I have a little...hunch that Drum aint gonna finish da race."  
  
Moby chuckled to himself, he felt on top of the world.  
"I fiddled with his board last night, his binding is gonna snap when it lands too hard. And wham, his ankle gets snapped like a fat twig." Moby simulated by snapping his toothpick in half.  
Yuri's eyes were wide, she was actually afraid.  
"...Moby...how could you!?" Yuri yelled, redness comming to her face.  
"What do you mean? Are ya worried about that fatass?" Moby said, blinking.  
Yuri couldnt belive what she was hearing. "No!..Its...Moby...!" Moby sat up, "Spit it out!" "After you left last night, Zoe added another stipulation to thier race!" Yuri blurted.  
"Yeah, so?" "The stipulation was that Zoe would race using HIS BOARD!" Yuri yelled, making sure Moby heard her loud and clear.  
Moby's smiled plummeted off of his face.  
"..What...no...but that means...!" Moby didnt know what to do, he had just screwed up. Big time.  
"I have ta tell her!" Moby yelled, looking at the trolley, it was nowhere near Yellow Station.  
"Well, you can't tell her now. Our M-comms dont even work from this range..." Yuri mumbled, she had never been more disappointed in her life.  
"But...but" Moby tried to search for words to say, but he couldnt find any.  
"Moby...if Zoe gets hurt in that race...its all going to be your fault...do you understand that?" Yuri whispered, not trying to sound angry.  
Moby couldnt speak, his mouth was dry. He had just put the one girl he ever loved in danger, and he had no way of reversing his actions. Moby didnt know what to do.  
  
"You...You seem a little...distant, Ally" JP whispered, laying next to her in the bed. It had already been a couple of hours since everyone went off for thier daily events, but JP and Allegra surprisingly didnt have any.  
"..Don't call me Ally, Jean.." Allegra groaned, the last thing she wanted as JP adopting Viggo's pet names.  
JP rolled over, putting his arm on Allegra's stomach. Allegra bolted upright, looking around for her shirt. JP jumped up as well, something was bothering Allegra, and he didnt even know what. Allegra scurried around the room, pulling on random clothes, not bothering to let any of them match. Wherever she was going, she was going in a hurry.  
"Talk to me!" JP yelled, Allegra finally stopped and turned around, putting on her Snow God badge.  
"..Yes?" Allegra said, not making eye contact.  
"...What did I do wrong?"JP said, his eyebrows turning upwards in an almost sad smile.  
"...You...you did nothing..in fact..you did everything right..." Allegra stammerd, searching for the words.  
"Its just..um...I need to take a ride...I can't stand being cooped up in here all day...it's..it's...it's nothing, really." Allegra leaned foward, pecking JP's cheek.  
JP didn't do anything, he didn't know WHAT to do...he just watched Allegra grab her board and bolt out the door, was this all part of his plan as well?  
  
Allegra sat in the lobby of the lodge, pulling on her snowboots as Viggo walked by, a clean shaven, non-drunk Viggo.  
"Hey! Vigs! Wanna go for a ri-- Viggo acted as if he didnt even hear her, he casually walked right past her, high fived Eddie, and kept on walking-- ide?" Allegra didn't know if she had just been dissed or not...she shrugged it off and left, on the way out she saw Elise, Nate, and Atomika returning from thier half pipe.  
  
Elise seemed to be on top of the world, it was common knowledge that she wasn't exactly the best person at tricks, but by some miracle of god, she pulled off getting a gold medal in Shuttle Run.  
"Go me! Go me! Uh-huh! Who da girl!? I'M DA GIRL!" Elise cheered, using every moment she could to grind against Atomika and Nate. Nate didnt look at all like the dancing type, but Atomika seemed to get into it right away, dancing on Elise right there in the snow.  
"Elise..." Eddie mumbled, right infront of her, Nate had already went inside.  
Elise and Atomika just danced.  
"...Elise?" Eddie coughed, making his voice a little louder.  
Elise danced even more, it was if Eddie wasn't even there.  
"ELISE!!!!!" Eddie yelled, causing Atomika and Elise to stop in thier tracks.  
"..Whats up, Edster?" Elise blinked.  
"I didn't even see you there.." Eddie clinched his gloved tight, and swung, knocking Atomika's head off and sending it sprialling through the snow, blood spewing everywhere.  
...Or...at least thats what Eddie -wanted- to do.  
Eddie gulped hard, he couldn't even speak from his immense jealousy.  
"..N...Nevermind..." Eddie turned to walk away, Elise, not even noticing that something seemed to be wrong with Eddie. Atomika on the other hand, did notice..and was determined to find out.  
  
"Eddie!...Eddie! Wait up!" Atomika jogged, catching up to Eddie.  
"What the hell do you want?" Eddie turned around obviously frusterated, no use in hiding it now.  
"You have been...sort of...I dont know...distant since you returned." Atomika started, not quite sure what words to say.  
"Did I do something to offend you or something?" Eddie wanted to scream, of course they have offended him!  
"No...just a little bout of..je..nevermind" Eddie shook his head, it was no use in telling Atomika.  
"Je-what?" Atomika stammered.  
"Je....deJEcted, you know..just feeling a bit dejected." Eddie sighed, sensing that he had just saved himself.  
Atomika shook his head, he didn't understand anything Eddie just said.  
"Hey, can I ask you something?" Eddie started, looking at Elise over Atomika's shoulder.  
"Yeah, sure." Atomika raised his eyebrows, waiting for the question.  
"Do you like Elise?" Eddie spat out in one quick sentence, the slight blush to Atomika's face indicated that he understood what he said.  
"...Well, I didnt at first...but she kinda grew on me..why?" Atomika nudged Eddie.  
"Oh...no reason...just sort of curious..." Eddie lied.  
Atomika took a look back at Elise, then a look at Eddie.  
"...OOOOH, I get it!" Atomika held a finger up in 'EUREKA' fashion.  
Eddie's eyes could of fell out of his face, his whole face burned...hell, even his HAIR burned.  
"You get what!? What do you get!?" Eddie choked.  
"You are looking out for her!" Atomika chuckled, "You two are like brother and sister, You are just making sure no one breaks her heart, right?" Eddie's brain felt like goo.  
"Yeah...sure." Eddie just nodded, not even sure of if he was drooling from the mouth or not.  
"Don't worry man, I know you and her are sorta close. I wont hurt her." Atomika stated obviously, and nudged Eddie again.  
"Wait..I thought you two weren't.." Eddie started, Atomika already walking away.  
"Oh, we aren't.. but I am thinking about it... I mean, she IS open.. and no one else around here likes her in that way.. do they?" Atomika shrugged, trotting back to Elise.  
Eddie rubbed some snow out of his hair, "Yeah... no one likes her in that way..." Eddie put his goggles back down over his eyes, and headed back inside.  
Just in time to see Drum and Zoe give eachother a little stare down in the middle of the Lobby, Griff was watching beacuse the moment was too fun to pass up.  
"Alright, you two. The trolley is waiting. Zoe, Drum. Go take your challenge." Drum nodded, grabbing his back up board and heading out the door.  
Zoe grinned, to her, this was in the bag. She grabbed Drum's board and flung it over her shoulder, a small tink sound was heard as she left.  
  
"Well, it looks like Drum is about to go get his ass kicked.." Griff started, walking through the lobby barefoot.  
"Zoe is going to wipe the floor with that newb-OW!" Griff jumped, hopping on one foot.  
"OW, OW, OW!" "Whats wrong?" Viggo asked, looking him from his magazine.  
"Something stuck my in the foot!....Ow...what the..?" Griff winced, pulling the object out.  
"A screw? What the hell is a screw doing on the floor?" Viggo shrugged. "Probally a spare from somone's kit. You know, to fix a loose binding or something." Psymon didn't open his mouth, he just sat by his M-comm, waiting for coverage of the challenge.  
  
The entire ride to the peak was a quiet one, Drum nor Zoe bothered to talk...they didn't even look in the same direction. As the trolley flew over the snow, Drum noticed the different flags placed in parts of the course, one green, and one red. He knew his challenge would have something to do with those flags. Zoe was smiling to herself, she was so cocky. She knew that there was no way in the world she could lose, she was going to go into this event with her head held high, and she was going to defeat this newbie at his own game, on his own board!  
  
Rahzel made contact with both of thier M-comms.  
"Zoe will explain the challenge to you when you get to the mountain, Drum." Rahzel spoke softly, it seemed that he and the SSX council take these things very seriously.  
"Zoe, its up to you if you want the other riders to be able to see the race." Zoe thought about it, for her, it would be a lot better to show the whole lodge that she was right all along... but on the other hand, if she lost(by some miricale) to Drum, she didnt want the whole lodge to take part in viewing that.  
"Nah, Ill tell them about it later." Zoe shrugged, making it seem like she didn't care.  
They were almost to the top of the mountain, Drum's throat tightend as the trolley stopped.  
Zoe stepped out, taking a big breath of the mountain air she was used to. Drum, on the other hand felt a little lightheaded. He wasn't used to being this high in the air, hell, this was probably the highest he had ever been. Drum's knees buckled, he was seriously having second thoughts about this...but...he couldn't let Zoe win, he had to win her respect.  
  
AN:Drum: Oooooh, the tension is nice.  
You know the drill, read and review. 


	11. Rough and Tumble

Chapter 11: Rough and Tumble.  
  
Zoe and Drum overlooked the mountain they were on, Drum recognized it already, it was Peak 2. Zoe's claim to fame after she took it from Nate last year. The track was filled with jumps, cracks, ice, and sharp rocks. God must of made this track speicifially made for her. Zoe grinned and held her hands behind her head.  
"Well, this is it. My race." Zoe smiled, looking over at Drum.  
"What the hell is it called?" Drum looked at the brightly colored flags that littered the area. One set of them were red, the other set were green. Drum had no problem seeing which ones were his.  
"I call it Rough and Tumble," Zoe smirked, "The objective is to get down this race before I do...AND to get all of the flags. No holds barred." Zoe's mouth was watering. She was all ready to get out there and crack some skulls, this race against Drum was going to be one of the funnest things she will have done since she got here. Drum didn't feel the same way, he was almost dreading this, he was already new to the snow, but now he had to race down a track that could possibly kill him? Man, this wasn't shaping up to be a good day.  
  
"Whatcha starin' at, Newbie?" Zoe laughed, she was enjoying getting into Drum's head. "You already having second thoughts about it?" Drum snapped, and looked over at her as the trolley pulled away from behind them.  
"You wish, I was just wondering if you still want to keep your little stipulation." "Oh, Im going to beat you, with your own board. I like the smell of salt inside of a wound." Zoe licked her lips, this was going to be sweet.  
  
Drum didn't know what to prepare for as he took his place between the gate, strapping on his back up board and making sure it was nice and secure under his feet, Zoe was on the opposite side, the board already on her feet, the bindings were a little bit too big for her, but she figured that it would be okay, so she ignored the extra space. Drum grabbed his gloves from his belt loop, he was sure he was going to need some sort of grip to grab those flags. Zoe didn't bother putting on her gloves, she was been practicing under these conditions for years, and this peak was hers to own. She knew exactly what she was doing.  
  
Drum and Zoe's M-comms beeped respectively, each of them reached down and flipped it open, Rahzel's voice crackled through the speaker.  
"Well, we are going to start radio silence as soon as the light goes green. We have a tracker on the mountain, so we will be able to tell who wins. At that point, we will go ahead and send a helicopter down to pick the both of you up." Rahzel finished, still sounding just as a serious as he did before. Drum and Zoe nodded as if Rahzel could actually see them, and took their positions, Drum already leaning foward so he could get a good push off.  
  
Red light.  
Yellow light.  
Green light!  
  
Zoe and Drum took off from the gate, Drum had never noticed before, but the first forty to fifty feet of the track was solid ice, seeing as he wasn't prepared for the lack of traction. Zoe, on the other hand, loved seeing Drum in trouble so early on. She skillfully leaned to the side, skidding right infront of Drum and giving him a hard punch to the shoulder before she came back around. Drum flinched a little, her hand ramming onto his arm did not feel well in such cold weather. Zoe laughed hard, coming back around to smack Drum again en route to the first flag, but Drum was smarter this time, and he flipped his board on its side, causing Zoe to tumble. Drum leaned foward, the farther ahead of Zoe he was, the better.  
  
Zoe was used to falling, so she propped herself up quickly, going for her first flag. The flag was hanging on the end of a sharp rock, she slid straight at it. Drum's flag was danging in mid air, over a particularly small gap, but a gap nonetheless. Drum jumped, not as well as he would of liked, but well enough to get the flag, and landed. The landing wasn't graceful in the least and he took a nice facefull of snow, while Zoe on the other hand, was already en route to her second flag.  
  
Drum gave a little grunt, pushing himself up and skidding down the snow, he had to find some way to get infront of Zoe before she took too far of a lead. Zoe was already overconfident, stopping to yell insults back at Drum, and then just to make him a little angrier she even stopped to point him in the direction of his next flag. Drum was beginning to get very annoyed with her tactics. As the race progressed, Zoe still had her lead, she was ahead of Drum by just a little, and she had two more flags than him.  
  
Drum fell out of the sky like a rock picking glass shards out of his hair, and looking back at the broken window behind him.  
"Nngh... only five more flags, but I need to catch her." Drum leaned foward into the downward slope, a big ramp was comming up, and it was a solid straight away towards it. Zoe was losing her confidence, knowing that Drum's extra weight would lend him just enough speed to pass her, so she began to play dirtier than she was before, skidding her board side to side to send a sheet of snow back at Drum. It didn't work. Drum was too smart, and made sure he kept out of her spray, before he knew it he was neck to neck with Zoe, and they were heading up towards the jump. They both looked over at eachother, and then they looked past eachother. In a sick turn of events, it seem that thier respective flags were on opposite sides of them, it would mean they would have to cross over to get them, and still keep enough speed to make the jump.  
  
Zoe made her move first, skidding towards Drum, hoping to knock him over and still get her flag, Drum did the same, trying not to give up too much speed. Zoe made the attack, she clinched her fist and swung hard at Drum, but this time she wasn't as lucky as she was the first time, Drum somehow manage to dodge her fist and kept going, snatching up his flag and self righthing himself, about two feet infront of the jump. Zoe, with some trouble, managed to do the same...but she was crossing over again...she was going to attempt to knock Drum out of the air during the jump!  
  
Drum tried to keep himself steady, and he jumped, Zoe jumping at an angle, directly at him.  
The moment in the air seemed to last forever, Drum didn't even see Zoe comming at him until it was too late, she had managed to tackle the big man in mid air, with a board attached to her legs. Drum didn't even know where he was landing, he just knew that he was going to hit it hard, Zoe on the other hand, knew exactly where she was going to land.  
  
SMASH!!!  
  
They both crashed through one of the many shortcut glass windows, shards of glass cutting and knicking the both of them, but to both of thier surprise, they kept falling.  
  
"AWW FUCK!" Zoe yelled, looking past Drum to realize that passed that glass was a solid downward drop. And boy did they drop, Drum managed to roll almost the whole way down, while Zoe, who was used to the terrain, managed to recover from her fall and skate away. Drum pushed himself up, and snacthed the flag that was hanging right infront of him, Zoe had a monster lead now, and what made it worse is that the track now forked off. He was sure to lose her if he didn't catch up.  
  
--  
  
"What doya mean I can't go to peak two!?" Moby yelled, Yuri and Griff behind him. Moby was standing toe to toe with Rahzel.  
"You heard me, Jones. We cant let you go to Peak 2 until the challenge is completed." Rahzel said calmly, blocking the way towards the trolley.  
"But...but" Moby stammered, he was the only one that knew what trouble Zoe was in, but he knew that if he said it he would surely be banned from SSX. Griff steppe foward, and tried to reason with Rahzel.  
"I'll give ya a free hamburger if you just let us through?" Griff said, reaching into his pocket for some money. Yuri stopped him before Rahzel could even get an answer, pulling Griff behind her and stepping up.  
"But we just really want to see the race, is that so wrong?" Yuri pleaded, but it fell on deaf ears.  
"No, plain and simple." Rahzel nodded and stepped away, "and Simmons, if you ever try to bride me again, Ill see to it that you don't race for a year." he took his leave. Griff tried to hide his embrassment by nuzzling into Yuri's neck, who responded with a swift punch to the arm.  
"Ow, what the hell was that for?" Griff whined, rubbing his arm.  
"Thats for being a dumbass" Yuri whispered, she wasnt completely serious, but she meant enough of it to make Griff shut up.  
Moby was already walking away from the both of them, he was walking up the hill.  
"Moby! Moby! What the hell are you doing?" Yuri yelled after him, following him a bit.  
"Go home, Yuri" Moby coughed, his voice rigid and gravelly.  
"You know something we don't, don't you?" Griff spoke this time, Yuri didn't hit him, she knew that Moby knew something as well.  
"I just want ta see da race, is that a crime now?" Moby grumbled, he didn't do much to convince the two teenagers that he wasn't lying.  
"Oh come ON, just tell us what you know!" Yuri almost begged, acting like she didn't know for Griff's sake, trying to keep up.  
Moby spun around throwing his hands in the air.  
"GO AWAY! BOTH OF YA, RIGHT NOW!" Moby yelled, and he meant every word of it. Yuri and Griff finally took the hint, then didn't want to anger Moby any more than he already was.  
"Fine...We're outta here", Griff stated, grabbing Yuri by the arm lightly, expecting her to resist, but instead she rested her head on his shoulder, looking Moby in the eye before marching off with Griff.  
Moby watched Yuri walk away, his stomach sank a little. She was just trying to help and there he goes yelling at her, he made a small mental note to set things straight with her later, but right now, he had bigger problems.  
  
Moby just trudged, he was actually going to walk up a mountain, to get to another, he knew by the time he would get there that the race would be long over, but he still had to try. He had not walked even a couple of feet before something flew over his head, it was someone on a snowboard, they landed behind him, skidding softly to a stop.  
  
"Yo, Brit-boy. We gotta talk." Psymon scoffed, Moby was just the person he was looking for.  
"Not now, Psymon." Moby turned to walk away, but Psymon had already taken the his feet out of the bindings of his board and shoved Moby hard on the back.  
"Yes now, RIGHT now." Psymon growled, not his usual anger, but more of a subtle anger, which made this all the more serious.  
Moby pushed Psymon away, he wasn't looking for a fight. Psymon grabbed Moby's arms and swept his foot out from under him, pushing him down into the snow.  
"What da hell is ya problem, mate!?" Moby yelled, he had no idea why Psymon was acting the way he was.  
"My problem!? What the yell is YOUR problem, old chap" Psymon grunted bringing Moby up to his feet before slamming his back into a tree.  
"Wo..wot?" Moby grimmaced, his back slid along the rough tree bark.  
"I saw the move you pulled in the board closet last night." Psymon seethed.  
Moby couldnt belive his ears, someone had saw him?  
  
"How, how did you...wait..I can expla--" Moby got cut off by a hard punch in the face from Psymon, who continued talking.  
"You cant even handle a small...well, not so small, but a newbie? Since when do you have to sink to sabotage...not even -I- sink that low." Psymon chuckled at the little joke he made.  
Moby pushed Psymon off, not bothering to run, but instead trying to explain. "I just want the little bugger out of my hair!" Moby yelled, his voice echoing off the trees around him.  
  
Psymon swung a hard punch at Moby, he put all of his anger into it before it smashed into the side of Moby's head.  
  
Moby reeled, his vision a little blurred, and fading.  
  
"You deserved it, no one fucks with my friends." Psymon grunted, walking away as Moby collapsed onto the snow.  
  
--  
  
"AARRRAAAGGGH!!!" Drum yelled, falling yet again, the final leg of this race was going to leave him a lot of battle scars, Zoe was still ahead, and they were comming up on the last three flags of the race. Zoe had her place cemented, she was done in her mind. Zoe looked ahead at the track, it forked off in two different directions, she wished she had a hand in designing this death of a track. She took her path, Drum not too far behind her now. Zoe jumped onto a rail, skidding a long and snatching the a flag up with her foot, to her side she could see Drum do a hand plant to grab the flag, he was actually ahead of her now. Realizing the the grind was slowing her down, she jumped off, she felt the binding on her board wiggle a bit, but she wrote it off to the extra room. Drum snatched up his final flag, just was the cliche final jump appeared ahead of them, Drum was overjoyed, this was it, he had to clear this and win Zoe's respect. Drum put on his game face, leaned in, and took the jump.  
  
In one fluid movement, Drum pulled his board off of his feet,threw it over his back, spread his arms out like an airplane, aligned his back with the board, and gave it a spin , the board spun like a helicoptor propellar. Drum let the snowy air hit his face as he soared over the gap, this was only the second time he had ever pulled off the Proper Propellar Drumroll, and he still loved it. Drum quicky flipped foward, grabbing the board between his feet and securing himself back in before landing, even though that was the final jump of the race, there was still a little ways to go before the race itself was over.  
  
Drum neglected to notice the large section of mountain above him, on that large section, Zoe rode, her final flag in hand, and ready to take her place. Zoe jumped when the mountain permitted her, flying directly over Drum's head and pulling off a textbook Pommel Me, even taking time to give Drum the finger before she was completely out of sight. That was it, Drum had lost. It was over. Drum heard a loud crack and a thud, he assumed it was a tree branch comming down, and ignored it. Drum still wanted to finish the race, as he came up on the finish line, he noticed that there were no snow tracks, Zoe hadn't crossed yet!  
  
Drum was ready to ride, but he saw something in the snow, the binding to his board...he followed the peices of his board...a small trail, that led to an unconcious Zoe, one leg still on the small peice of his board that was left intact, the other leg...broken, and snapped in a 90 degree angle...in a direction he never thought a leg could go in. A small puddle of blood was forming under her leg, and her head.  
  
Drum took a look at the finish line infront of him, and at the mangled Zoe. He didn't know what to do... 


	12. Winning while Losing

AN: Sorry to keep you all waiting for so long. But once again, school overrides the time I take to actually write a story. WARNING: THIS IS A SHORT CHAPTER. I REPEAT. THIS IS A SHORT CHAPTER.

----

Chapter 12: Winning while losing.

Moby was sitting on the top of the steps, he was rubbing his arms. He felt so cold, he felt almost heartless. Yuri sat next to him. "Nice shiner..." Yuri noticed the black eye on Moby, Moby didn't even care that Psymon had caught him with a good suckerpunch. "Are the results from the challenge in?" Moby asked gruffly, he had already broken his M-comm in a fit of frustration. Yuri just shook her head, she leaned against the railing and just watched Moby. "You know...there wasn't really anything you can do about it." Yuri started, Moby gave her a hard stare. "I could of started by not fucking up tha best thing I eva had..." Moby sighed. He stood up and began to walk down the stairs.

He saw everyone in the lobby, they seemed to only care about the challenge as well, they could easily end up with a newbie for a Snow God, and some of the veterans were not happy about that."I mean, he isnt that much of a bad guy and all, but a newbie becomming one of us his first time out is just wrong!" Elise yelled to Nate, who just nodded in agreement "I mean, it took us three long years to work up to our ranks, and it is just a slap in the face that a kid who has only been here for three months can get a shot and what we worked hard for." Elise kept speaking, Allegra caught wind of what she was saying. "What do you mean it isnt right? I have only been on this circut for one year, and look what I have around my neck!" Allegra showed off her Snow God medal, JP was sitting right behind her.

Viggo clinched his fists, he wanted more than anything to espose that Allega's rank was gotten on a fluke, on a sick ploy by JP to get into her pants. "Oh come on! Look who you won it from! J.P! He wasnt even on the ciruct for three full years, he didn't come back last year beacause he was too busy getting drunk and laid up in France!" Elise blurted, J.P didn't look visiably angry, but it hurt him deep down. "Hey! You leave him out of this! I won my rank fair and square! I beat him on the mountain! Ask Viggo! He was there!" Allegra yelled, pointing over to Viggo. Everyone else in the lobby turned towards the him, awaiting his answer.

Viggo looked at everyone, he had no idea what he could say...should he expose J.P for the fraud that he was? Or should he back up Allegra? "Yeah...she won. J.P fell on the last fall." Viggo muttered flatly. J.P took a bigger sigh of relief than Allegra did, but Viggo kept speaking. "You know, its sort of ironic. Up until that point, they were neck and neck. Maybe God just has a cruel way of playing tricks on people who get too cocky. You know..maybe it was all part of his plan. Eh, J.P? All part of his plan." Viggo could of turned J.P into swiss cheese with all of the daggers he was starring into him. Viggo got up and headed out into the front lawn(or lack there of) "What the hell was that all about?" Elise looked over at J.P, who just shrugged. "I guess he is still jealous that I have gotten closer to Allegra than he has." J.P spoke with a smooth smile on his face, he pulled Allegra down onto the couch with him and gave her a peck on the cheek. Allegra acknowledged it and kisses J.P back, but something about Viggo's speech just didn't feel right...it sounded almost...sarcastic.

Psymon was the first to notice Moby's backseat to the enite conversation. "So, Britt-Boy, what are you views on your newest brotha's chances at becomming the next Snow God?" Psymon was enjoying making Moby sweat. Moby looked up at Psymon, and just flatly said. "That bloke is not my brotha..." Psymon looked for an opening to strike and he found it. "Oh? He isnt? Well, he is black...so wait..yep. That would make him your brotha in slang terms wouldnt it? Wait a second. Last year weren't you the only 'brotha' on the circut?" Psymon grinned. "Now..before that there was Seeiah...and she wasnt there the third year...and on the first year...there you were again. The only black guy." "Wot are ya gettin' at, Stark?" Moby snapped, he was in NO mood for Psymon's little games. "Im trying to say that you are jealous! Someone else is stealing your thunder!" Psymon yelled, dramatically pointing at Moby, Griff tried to stop himself from laughing. Moby sat there, frozen, maybe he was just jealous beacause he wasnt the 'black' sheep anymore?

Eddie sat there, looking at everyone, namely at Elise and Nate. "You know what? We are one big dysfunctional family." Eddie blurted out, maybe in some way to lighten up the damp mood. No one spoke, then a loud wet sound filled the air. "....UGH! Who ripped one!?" Elise yelled, pinching her nose. Eddie meant to crack the ice, not shatter it. Every looked over at Psymon, who was the prime suspect for things like this, but he always admitted when he did it. Every scanned the room, next to Mac was a giant japanese tomatoe. "....How can a smell that bad come out of a girl that small!?" Nate yelled, Kaori looked like she was about to burst, Mac had either passed out from laughter, or lack of air. "...Gomen?" Kaori squeaked, throughrougly embarassed.

----

Peak 2 was empty, the wind was howling, and the snow was still falling. "Where the hell can they be? We never got a call saying that one of them finished." Rahzel was sitting in the side seat of a helicopter a little ways away from the finish line. "I tried calling thier M-comms, but the storm is making it damn near impossible." Pete grunted, "The cameras are all caked with snow, too. Can't see nothing down there." Rahzel sighed, as much as he didn't want to interefere with the challenge himself, he didnt want any of his boarders to get hurt and have no way to contact them. "Pete, go ahead and lift off, we will just see who has the most flags and decide the winner from that." Pete shook his head. "No need to, boss." Pete pointed over to the horizon. "The big one, he is right there." Pete pointed and Rahzel looked over. There he was, Drum, boarding over towards them slowly.

"Wait, where the hell is Payne!? He didn't leave her back there, did he?" Rahzel was about ready to burst, how could a fellow rider leave one of thier own in such a storm!?

"Calm yerself down, boss. Look!" Pete pointed around Drum's neck. There were a set of arms...hanging around his neck...it was Zoe, out cold.

"He had Payne..but why isnt she moving? Lets get them. NOW!" Rahzel ordered, and Pete set out to get them.

By the time they had gotten back to the lodge, 8 hours had passed. No one knew what condition Zoe was in, and no one even bothered to talk to Drum. Moby had to get banned from the medical wing beacause he kept on demanding to see Zoe. The boarders didn't even know who had one the challenge. Rahzel had assembled everyone in the lobby for an annoucnement. Griff had already had early predictions that Drum got a little bit too rough in the race and was about to get the boot for injruing Zoe. Kaori thought it was going to be an annoucnemt about whether Drum was the new Snow God or not.

"As you all know, Zoe Payne and Jordan Williams had a Snow God challenge today. Along with the SSX Council, I have reviewed the footage of the race from the only camera that was visable at the end. In the tape we can see that Zoe landed a trick wrong, and it resulted in an injury. At that point, we had to switch the the finish line camera, which only shows who crosses the finish line. In that tape we saw that Mr. Williams had infact helped Zoe across the finish line, by holding her threshold style and sliding down the mountain..."

Eddie blinked, and raised his hand. "So, who finished first?"

Rahzel sighed and rubbed his temples. "Even though Zoe was unconcious at the time, and indeed was not on her board. Her body did cross the finish line first. The SSX Council awards the Zoe Payne the winner of the contest." Mac threw a pillow in a small tantrum, "That ain't right! If it wasnt for Drum should would of never gotten across the line anyway!"

Psymon was the first to snap back, "Quityerbitchin Wiggerboy! Rules are rules. She won fair and square." "You have NO room to talk about rules, Stark!" Mac snapped back before Rahzel blew his whistle

"Calm down! What's done is done! The Council had decided that Zoe is the winner and that is that!" Rahzel was about to continue but Kaori shot her hand up. "Yes?" "Umm...how is Zoe?" Kaori asked, she seemed to be the only one who cared to know how Zoe was doing. "Well, she is lucky she only came out of it with the injuries she does has..." he started, and began to think. "She has a small fracture in her leg, and a couple of bumps to the head. She won't be on a board until they can fit her with a walking cast. Which will be at least two or three months."

Elise shook her head, "Damn shame..." Eddie snapped to look over at her, Elise sounded a little bit too much like Nate for comfort. Atomika noticed it as well. "Hey, people get injured in this sport. Its not like its ballet. Theres an X in it for a reason." Atomika put his arm around Elise's shoulder. Eddie almost cussed out loud, but somehow held his composure.

"What about Doughboy?" Psymon blurted. "Is he getting banned or what?" Rahzel snapped back at Psymon, "Psymon, he pretty much gave up his chance for his rank. The least you could do is address him by his name!" Psymon thought about it. "Nah, he is just a dumbass for not taking a chance at glory." Psymon grinned. "Here here!" Griff raised his hand, which was quickly smacked down by Yuri.

"So, is he okay overall?" Yuri asked. "He should be fine, he is a little banged and brusied. It was a pretty hard race. But he is in better condition than Zoe..."

Rahzel replied. "The SSX Council will do an investigation of the accident, just so now thoughts of foul play are tossed around." Rahzel gave a stern glance at Griff. "Be assured, if any evidence of sabotage is found, the person...or persons responsible will be looking at a one way ticket back to wherever they came from." Rahzel took that chance to look over the whole roster. Then nodded. "You can all leave now..if anyone sees Moby, pass the message along to him, too."

Moby heared everyhing, he was at the top of the stairs the whole time, he couldn't bare to show his face.

----

It was late, about 2 A.M in the morning. Drum was laying back on his bed. Mac was out cold, and Kaori had finally went to her own room for the night. Until he heard a knock.

Drum got up and cracked the door, it was Kaori. "Oh, Hold on, I'll wake Mac up..." Drum started, but Kaori stopped him. "No..I am not here for Maccie..Its Zoe..she wants to see you." Kaori whispered, not wanting to wake up Mac. "Wait, Zoe...Zoe Payne...she wants to speak to me?...Why?" Drum asked, unsure of why Zoe would want to see him. "I don't know..." Kaori shrugged. Drum walked out, and headed down the hall for Zoe's room. Kaori stayed behind with Mac. Drum put his hand on the knob, then pulled it away. "I don't feel like hearing her gloat about beating me..." Drum began to talk to himself. "...Fuck it, I might as well get it over with." Drum pulled the door open and walked in.

Everyone was asleep, except for Moby. Who has just watched Drum walk across the hall during the night..and go into Zoe's room...and Yuri was in Griff's room...which means Zoe was alone. Not only was Drum trying to steal his thunder...now he was trying to steal his girl, too?

----

AN: Ooooh, more and more suspense! Looks like I am solo on writing this chapter as well. You know the drill, read and review. The next update will be the last chapter for Snow Gods part 1! (Unless I say otherwise).


	13. Inverted

**AN:** Here it is, the final chapter for Snow Gods: Frozen Hearts. It seems Parry has dropped off of the project, which leaves her space open (on the writing team, not the character) if you are interested in helping me out with Snow Gods: Second Heat, then contact me.

**NOTE: SSX SNOW GODS: SECOND HEAT WILL NOT BE ON THIS PENNAME. IT WILL BE ON MY PENNAME (THE DRUM KERO)**

Now sit back and enjoy the final chapter of SSX Snow Gods: Frozen Hearts

* * *

Chapter X: Inverted

Drum slunk into the room, he expected to see Zoe standing around with a full on tinker take parade going on in her honor. Instead Zoe was just lying in her bed watching race videos with her leg propped up.

"I didn't think you would come." Zoe said flatly.

"...Look, if you want to rub it in my face. Go ahead so I can go back to sleep. I have a slope style tomorrow." Drum sighed; he knew where this conversation was going.

Zoe blinked, "If I wanted to gloat, I wouldn't of bust my ass and broke my leg." Zoe's voice was as cold as ice.

"Then what in the hell do you want? I lost, you won. You are still a Snow God, end of story." Drum turned to leave, but Zoe caught him again.

"Just shut the fuck up and listen for once." Zoe spoke with some authority; Drum stopped and figured if she was going through all of this trouble to say something than he might as well listen.

"...Thank you." Zoe mumbled, she could barely hear herself.

"What was that?" Drum could have sworn he had just heard her apologize.

"You heard me, newbie." Zoe spat, she didn't like saying it as much as the next person.

"...You're thanking me for what?"

"What in the hell do you think I am thanking you for?" Zoe was getting annoyed with Drum's thickness.

"Well, wouldn't anyone else do the same thing?" Drum knew what she meant now.

"That's the thing, they wouldn't have." Zoe pulled her leg out of the sling, and rested it onto the bed.

"Even Kaori would have left me to cross the finish line. That's just how things are out here."

Zoe swung her legs over the side of the bed.

"So you are saying that it would have been better for me to just let you sit there while I took the glory?" Drum raised and eyebrow, pretty surprised at how this was working out.

Zoe just nodded.

"Whatever, it doesn't matter in the end. You still have your pass." Drum shrugged.

Zoe let out a chuckle.

"You think I really care about this pass?" Zoe took her Snow God pass out and threw it at Drum.

"Do you think I really give three fucks about this goddamn piece of metal!?" Zoe gritted her teeth as she yelled, Drum caught the pass.

"Keep the stupid thing if that is all you care about!" Zoe slammed her fist down on her pillow.

Drum threw the pass to the side; he didn't care about it at the moment.

"What is your problem!? One second you are thanking me, then the next second you are going on about how I shouldn't have saved you, make up your mind!" Drum yelled, ready to leave and go back to sleep.

Zoe stood up; apparently she wasn't in so much pain that she couldn't stand.

Drum opened the door, "Look, you apologized, I accept. Now I am going back to bed."

"I'm not done, newbie." Zoe muttered, in a deep serious tone.

"Fine what ELSE do you want to yell at me about!?"

Zoe hesitated.

"You know what Drum, fuck it. Go ahead and leave." Zoe grunted, hobbling over to him.

"I called you in here to be the bigger man, not to sound like so much of an asshole, but you seem determined to make me out to b the bad guy." Zoe was still hobbling up to him.

"So just get out, go tell everyone that big bad Zoe Payne woke you up in the middle of the night to rub it in your face, just get out!" Zoe yelled, tears welling up in her eyes.

Drum didn't want to admit it, but he didn't want to ruin her reputation over a lie.

"...Stop that." He whispered, "Stop crying over something so stupid."

Zoe shook her head, then snapped, "Stupid!? You think this is stupid? This is SSX! This is something I love! This is something ALL of us love!"

"Not that! I mean this stupid Snow Gods bullshit." Drum snapped, he was getting frustrated with all of this.

"Just...go back to sleep. Okay? We will act like this whole day, let alone this night, never happened." Drum grunted, he really did want to go back to sleep.

"Fine...Fine..." Zoe turned around, and began to hobble, but stopped.

"You know...Moby wouldn't have even come back for me?" Zoe said.

"Surprise, Surprise." Drum shrugged.

"No, I really mean it. Moby, my own boyfriend...well...ex-boyfriend, wouldn't of come back for me. He would have left me to freeze my tits off in the snow." Zoe laughed.

"So? What are you getting at?"

"Well, I find it kinda funny that some kid that doesn't even like me would come back to save me and my tits." Zoe laughed again.

"....No one said I didn't like you." Drum raised his eyebrow, was she on heavy morphine or something?

Zoe smiled.

"Awwww. The widdle newbie liiiiiikes me." Zoe giggled into her hand.

Drum looked around, and he was right, Zoe was standing on her morphine button.

"Okay...you need to lie back down." Drum whispered, fearing that Zoe might get too loud.

Zoe giggled and flopped onto her bed.

Drum turned to leave, for the umpteenth time, but Zoe once again stopped him.

"Drum, the morphine button wasn't even hooked up." Zoe laughed, "You fell for that one bad."

Drum had had enough of this.

"GOODBYE, ZOE" Drum yelled.

"Hey get over here! I at least want to shake your hand!" Zoe yelled, serious this time.

Drum figured he would just shake her hand, and then leave.

Drum approached, and outstretched his hand; Zoe took it and shook it.

Drum turned, but his hand didn't go with him. Zoe wouldn't let go.

"Um...Zoe?" Drum began to say as he was pulled down.

Now, how a barely 160 lbs girl managed to pull down a 300 plus lbs man, Drum never did figure out, but all he knew is that in a matter of seconds, Zoe had pulled him onto her bed, and pinned his arm behind his back.

"Now, I am going to say thank you, and I want you to accept it, like you mean it!" Zoe pressed Drum's wrist farther into his back.

"Okay! Fine! I accept your thanks! Okay!?" Drum didn't want to yell, but it hurt like hell.

"There." Zoe let him go.

"Was that so bad?" Zoe must of had hit her head, she was going through more mood swings than ever.

"...You are fucking crazy? Do you know what?" Drum stated, calmly.

"I know...and...You know, I really did mean it when I said that Moby wouldn't of come back for Me." she was sitting on his midsection, he couldn't get up if he wanted to.

"Is this how you would thank him if he did?" Drum winced.

"Nah, he is too much of an asshole to let me do this...but I would do this." Zoe leaned down and pecked Drum on the forehead.

Drum just looked at her as if he had seen a ghost.

"....What? Don't tell me you are gay or something'." Zoe said.

"...What? Oh! No...That just sorta...came out of nowhere." Drum was stumbling for words now.

"It did? Well. You asked how I would thank Moby if he would have come back for me..." Zoe shrugged.

Drum was still confused, he was expecting to wake up and laugh any second now. Seeing as only 24 hours ago, the girl that is on his lap hated him, and now she is three steps away from sleeping with him.

"Um...can I go back to my room now?" Drum asked politely.

"No. You asked how I would thank Moby if he saved me, and I am going to show you." Zoe grabbed the collar of Drum's shirt, and kisses him, hard.

Drum was definitely not dreaming.

"Okay! Wait! This isn't right! We barely even know each other, and I mean...you don't even like me!" Drum yelled, who cares if anyone heard him now?

Zoe rolled her eyes.

"Man! Do I have to spell it out for you?" Zoe shook her head, figuring he would have caught on by now.

"When you came back to save me, you really proved something to me back there. You are different from the guys here at SSX, there's something different....I want to know what it is...I want to know you." Zoe whispered.

Drum looked lost.

"...I fuckin' like you, Williams." Zoe rolled her eyes again, men are stupid.

Drum STILL looked lost.

"....OH!OH! Whoa!? Wait. Didn't you hate me a day ago? I was some stupid newbie who didn't know shit." Drum just did NOT get it, something didn't add up.

"Yeah, you were. But that was up until the race. After I saw that you didn't back down from me, and that you eventually gave yourself up for me. I knew that I really liked you instead of loathed you." Zoe confessed.

"...That you really liked me? That would mean you liked me before." Drum raised an eyebrow; this was all new to him.

"Well, after me and Moby split...well, really before it. I always had my eye on you. Since the first day of this tour. You caught my eye, Williams. I guess it just took one bad race for me to really notice it. That's when I started to hate you, because no matter what I threw at you to make you hate me, you just wouldn't." Zoe said coldly.

"...I think I understand...You liked me, you just didn't WANT to like me." Drum nodded.

Zoe nodded.

"So...it took a broken leg and a concussion to make you WANT to like me?"

Zoe nodded again.

"...Man, SSX is a fucked up place." Drum sighed.

"Yeah, I guess it is. Now, if you are done with your detective work. Let me finish thanking you."

Zoe pushed Drum's shoulder back down onto the bed, and tugged at her shirt, before she pulled it off. She made a clapping sound with her mouth and the lights went out.

**

* * *

**

Moby never did see Drum come back out of Zoe's room.

Mac never did see Drum come back in that night, the next morning. The lobby had a new rumor to discuss...

Mac walked around, he was looking for someone.

"Yo, Viggo! You seen Drum anywhere?" Mac asked, he hadn't seen Drum since last night.

"Um...yeah, early this morning. He was heading out to Crow's Nest. Why?" Viggo nodded.

"No reason, damn. He was supposed to teach me how to balance today." Mac looked around he saw Zoe hobbling towards the breakfast table, Atomika was behind the counter making omelets for everyone.

Zoe looked around; everyone had their eyes on her cast.

"Oh come on people, its not like you haven't been injured before." Zoe sighed, taking a cheese omelet off of the counter and heading to a seat.

"So..." Kaori started, she had a question on her mind ever since last night.

Kaori re-thought what she was going to say, and thought it would be better to scoot a little closer so no one would hear them.

"What did you talk to Drum about?" Kaori whispered in her cutest voice.

Zoe looked up, her eyes grew wide.

"I...uh...I mean us...um...nothing. I just thanked him." Zoe mumbled through a chunk of omelet.

"Thanked who?" Psymon was now standing between the both of them. This caused Kaori to magically disappear and appear on the other side of the room near Yuri.

Zoe shrugged, "I thanked Drum for bringing me back, is that a crime, Stark?"

Psymon grinned.

"Nope, the real crime is all of the yelling you two were doing last night. It's hard to sleep with you two goin' at it like fuckin' dogs in heat!" Psymon panted, and demonstrated the moaning. This caused everyone to look over at Zoe, some with funny expressions, some with ones of disbelief.

"...Wait wait wait, you mean to tell me....you....and...?" Elise started.

"What in the HELL are you talking about, Stark?" Zoe raised and eyebrow.

"Oh, don't try to cover it up. I heard you two last night. You thanked him alright." Psymon laughed, and did the universal sign for sex with his hands.

Griff was having a fit of laughter, J.P couldn't hide his either.

"Didn't you two like hate each other a day ago?" Atomka rang out.

"Guys, are you really going to believe PSYMON? The man talks to his TATTOO" Zoe yelled, slamming her fist down on the table.

Kaori chimed in.

"Well, you did call Drum to your room last night...and you wouldn't tell me why..."

Zoe stared daggers at Kaori.

"I wanted to thank him, and I did! Geez! Get your heads out of the gutter!" Zoe yelled.

"They were only thinking what they know is true, luv." Moby said from the top of the stairs, a nice smirk on his face.

"What are you talkin' about?" Nate decided to jump into the conversation.

"I saw Drum enter that room last night, and I didn't see him leave." Moby walked down the stairs, a big grin on his face.

Zoe knew that grin, something was wrong. He did something wrong...

"What the hell did you do, Moby?" Zoe asked, she saw right through his grin.

"Nothing, I just witnessed how loose you actually are, luv." Moby smiled.

"One little...I mean, large newbie saves you. And you sleep with em? Very slutty." Moby scolded, the rest of the roster sat silent.

Zoe stood up, looking at all of them.

"Do you all REALLY think I would do that?" Zoe looked at all of them, Elise and Viggo avoided Zoe's gaze.

The Lodge door opened, and Drum walked in, covered in snow.

All eyes were on him.

"...Um...what?" Drum looked at all of them. Moby especially.

"...Did I do something wrong?" Drum looked around.

Psymon couldn't resist the joke.

"Its more like...who did you do wrong." Psymon chuckled. Drum knew exactly what he meant, and looked at Zoe.

"Oh shit...you all think that me...and...Her?" Drum could have blushed if he could. Before he could say another word, the Lodge door burst open again, this time it was Rahzel, flanked by Powder Pete, and two men in SSX Official Jackets.

"Thas him! Right there!" Pete pointed right at Drum

"What!?" Drum looked around as the two officials grabbed his arms.

"What the hell did I do!?" Drum yelled at Rahzel, the rest of the roster was speechless.

"...Jordan, we have an eyewitness accusation saying that someone saw you tampering with the boards the night before your competition yesterday." Rahzel spoke coldly.

"WHAT!?" Drum yelled, the roster began to murmur.

"Until this can be investigated, you are banned to compete in SSX, and we have to remove you from the lodge to appear in front of the council." Rahzel seemed almost sorry for Drum.

Zoe couldn't believe her ears.

"...You didn't...did you?" Zoe looked at Drum, not wanted to believe it.

"No fucking way!" Drum wrestled against the two men.

Psymon looked on, now he knew something was up, especially when Moby suddenly disappeared back up the steps.

The two men carried Drum out to the Heliplane, Rahzel followed them.

"...So he is a cheater and a newbie? Wow. SSX just aint safe these days!" Griff broke the silence.

"I don't think he did it." Yuri stated, "He seems way too nice to do that..."

"I wouldn't put it past him, you saw how he and Zoe were the other day...he might of lost his temper and did something he regrets now" Nate stated.

Zoe didn't know what to believe.

"....Do you think he did it, Zoe?" Elise asked, everyone stopped to hear her answer.

"...I don't know." Zoe had her head in her hands.

Powder Pete opted not to go with Rahzel and the officials back to the council, he had business to attend to at the Lodge. He walked over by the board shed, lit up a cigarette, and waited.

Not soon after, Moby walked up.

"Nice job, I didn't expect you would get Rahzel down here so fast." Moby smiled, shaking Pete's hand.

"No problem, do ya got the money?" Pete coughed, and spit at the snow.

Moby slipped him a couple of bills.

"This is between me and you, alright? And if Stark comes forward, tell Rahzel he was in on it, alright?"

Pete nodded, and headed back inside.

Moby looked up at the snow falling.

"No fuckin newbie is gonna get the best of me." he spoke to himself, and followed Pete.

* * *

AN: I know, it's an abrupt ending. But not every ending can be happy. Plus, we have to leave trilogies in a cliffhanger!

**Will Drum get his good name cleared?**

**Will Psymon come forward with what he knows?**

**Will Moby get away with what he did?**

**Does Allegra still have feelings for Viggo?**

**Will Eddie EVER get through to Elise?**

**And most importantly...**

**Did Drum and Zoe REALLY do it?**

All of that and more MIGHT be answered in **Snow Gods: Second Heat**. Coming Late January/Early February 2005!

You know the drill, Read and Review.


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